Agents of Grey
by thegoodfight
Summary: Sequel to "Walk on the Hellmouth". Xander continues to try and make his way in the world. A simple missing persons case leads to more trouble than it's worth, however, and more dangers than anyone should face in one lifetime. My summary's need work
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: The sequal to "A Walk on the Hellmouth", which would have been up a while ago had the damn computer not deleted it. But, anyway, here it is. I'm re-writting the whole thing so updates will be sporadic while I get everything together. Yeah, that's about it. Hope somebody remember's the first story and if not, well, go read it if you want to. Let me know what you think. Good, bad, ugly, squishy, whatever._**

**Chapter 1**

L.A. was the furthest that he had traveled so far, physically anyway, and he wasn't seeing the appeal of it. It was all too bright, too fake and, well, too _clean _in a sense. If it was dirtier and more dangerous then he wouldn't have a problem with it. Well, no, that's a lie. He still would have a problem but he could at least pretend a bit better. As it was, he was barely tolerating it. Still, this is where the case had taken him and he wasn't about to not go just because the city got on his nerves. Demons, monsters and other such sordid creatures of the night hadn't kept him from doing what he said he would, so this wouldn't kill him. Besides, this was just the drop off point. The real work had been back home in Sunnydale, which didn't make a whole lot of sense when he thought about it. If these people were willing to pay so much money for this particular item then why couldn't they spend a little bit more and just pick it up back in Sunnydale.

That was lawyers for you.

The meeting place at least had him feeling comfortable. It was a demon bar of sorts. Well, actual it was a demon karaoke bar. It was supposed to be neutral ground of sorts and from what he had heard, it was strictly enforced. How, he had no idea and didn't want to find out by example. The owner was some green skin demon who could read your aura or some such thing if you sang. The Host, as he was called, was easy going and it didn't seem like he _would_ hurt a fly even if he could. He had been stopped by him when he first came in and told in no uncertain terms that the deal was not allowed to take place within the bar itself. He didn't know how the Host knew about the deal but he didn't want to step on any toes if he could help it. Xander told him that he would make sure to take it outside when the time came. The Host had lingered there for a moment, giving Xander the impression that he was being looked on more than just a surface level. It was unnerving to say the least.

Finally, shaking his head and looking a bit dizzy, the demon/bar owner had walked off leaving Xander to sit around and listen to some really bad renditions of equally bad songs but nursing rather good drinks. He made sure not to drink anything too strong since this was sometimes the most dangerous part of the job, but a few drinks weren't going to mess with his head any. Apparently he had inherited his family's tolerance of the stuff and, when he was honest with himself, maybe he also had the taste for it. Then again, he wasn't addicted to it or anything. Unless of course he just didn't know about it yet. Oh well, another line on his long list of things to think about.

It was still strange to think that only six months ago things had been so different. Things had been normal, well, relatively normal. Go to school, fight vampires with his friends, go to the Bronze, fight demons with his friends, get turned down for dates and avert the apocalypse with his friends. Oh, and one more thing, actual _have_ friends. Then, on one not so chilly Halloween night, Ethan Rayne, chaos mage and general wanna-be-fuck-everything-up guy, walked into town and turned everyone into costumes he had sold them. Somehow he had ended up dressing up as someone who actually existed and things had just gone downhill from there.

The man he had dressed up as, John Taylor was not the most normal person on the face of the planet. It's kind of hard to be when you're the son of the biblical myth Lilith and the only reason for her giving birth to you was to destroy everything and recreate it in her image. Since the world was still turning, it hadn't turned out that way obviously, but it's still enough to mess with a person's mind. So, naturally, that wasn't allowed to be all that John had dealt with. No, that would have made things too easy.

John lived in a place called the Nightside. It was a hidden city within the city of London. It was a place where monsters, Gods, Powers and Dominations walked freely through the streets. A place that heaven and hell stayed out of, unless you count that pesky Angel War, but really, no one cares about that anymore. You could get anything you wanted in the Nightside, _anything_, and all it would cost you is your soul or at least part of it if not someone else's. It was a place where the really wild things lived. All in all, not the nicest place to live. John not only lived there, he thrived. He belonged there.

That was who Xander had turned into that fateful night and, by a series of events, he had lived through it. Not just for one night, but for thirty full years. It wasn't enough that he got John's memories but he had _lived_ through John's life, in real time no less. Every horrible experience, bone crushing defeat and violent and necessary deed, he had experienced it as if it was his own. Needless to say, it caused some issues between him and his former friends. He was the same just...different. He wasn't as naive as Buffy and Willow where. He had seen the truly evil beings that lived in this world and things like vampires and pesky little demons, while scary at times, just didn't hold the same punch as they did. It probably spoke volumes considering that his favorite hangout in Sunnydale was the local demon bar known as Willie's. To be fair, it was also where he picked up most of his cases.

That's right, cases. Since it was about the only thing that he felt he could do, Xander had taken a lead from the man who he had shared a brain with and had become a private detective specializing in finding things. How was it possible some may ask? Well, that part was easy. John Taylor had a gift left to him by his mother. He could find anything. Literally. People, objects, power, hidden magic's, and a few things that were not so easy to define. It could all be found by him if he knew the right question to ask and opened up his third eye, what he had dubbed his private eye. And now, by some sort of twist of fate that made no sense, Xander could as well. It was about the only good thing to come along with the nightmares that he had endured while trapped inside the mind of John Taylor.

After some pretty bad choices on his part, Xander had separated from his friends, dropped out of school, and was doing what he could to help fight against the tide of evil in his own personal way. Admittedly it was a bit hard to do that considering that it was generally those sorts of people and not people that hired him. That was one of the many things that he had learned. The world was a whole lot of gray with slim bits of black and white and even those where hard to peg down. One person's hero was another's villain and vice versa and most of the time they never thought of themselves as either. He did his best to walk the line he had drawn for himself but when you struggled to get by, that line could get real damn thin sometimes. So, he took cases where he could and from who or what hired him. He still needed to eat and it also gave him a beat on what was happening on the Hellmouth. If he got a wind of something that was too bad to be ignored then he stepped in or made sure that those that needed to know, did.

"I take that you didn't have any problems then?" A silky voice asked behind him.

Silently cursing himself for getting caught up in his own thoughts and letting the woman sneak up on him, Xander replied, "If it was anything that I couldn't take care of, would I be sitting here?"

Truth be told, the object that Xander was carrying had been painfully easy to find and get his hands on, but he wasn't about to let his client know that. The only thing that had been tricky was some sort of spell or curse that had been placed on it but he had taken care of that in short work. All he had to do was find how it was tied to the object and it was easy enough to pull it away, which was simple when he just had to "look" at it the right way. It was unnerving how easy it had been and had him slightly on edge. After all, Wolfram and Hart where known for backstabbing and cut throat acts, in both the figurative and literal sense, and Lilah Morgan was as ice cold as they came.

Lilah had sought him out, working through a go between at first till Xander insisted on meeting her before taking the case. Never take a case unless you know exactly who you're working for was key to staying alive. Also, if you looked the client in the eyes it helped to let them know that you weren't one to be trifled with and bad things would happen to them if they didn't pay up. After all, being alive was all fine and well but making rent and being able to eat were also important.

"My employers just want to make sure that nothing will lead back to them. You can understand why we would wish to remain anonymous in this matter," Lilah told him, taking a seat across from him.

Nodding, Xander certainly did understand. The thing he was carrying would probably start a war between about three different clans of demons in this bar alone if his information was right. "Listen, no one knows about this except me and you and your people. After we settle up, it'll just be you and your people, got it?"

"That's one of the reasons that we decided to hire you, Mr. Harris. Your dedication to privacy is what sets you apart from some of the other people in your line of work. Normally we wouldn't use such a new player but...you're making quite the name for yourself," Lilah gave him a cold, seductive smile. One that would have sent shivers run down the spine of most men and not a few women. Xander had seen better. "So much so that you've caught the attention of the senior partners of the firm. They've been talking about offering you a permanent position with our organization."

Now that set off the warning bells in Xander's head. He was being offered a job with these people after working only one case for them? Even without what he knew about them, that was scary and completely unheard of unless they had been watching him for some time. But he did know about them. The place was corrupt. A cesspool of black magic, negative energy, and lawyers. They had a finger in just about anything evil that was out there and that included being the law firm that handled Mr. Cheerful, a.k.a the Mayor of Sunnydale. If they worked with him then there wasn't any way in hell that he would be working for them in anything other than his own personal freelance way and even then only if he felt like it. He worked for who he wanted to and took cases that he wanted. He wasn't anyone's lapdog and he didn't sell himself to anyone. His services, maybe, but not who he was.

"Lilah," Xander started, making sure to call the woman by her first name, "We had an arrangement. I got what you're looking for and you had better have my money. As for your offer, keep it. I work for me. If your bosses have a problem with that, tell them _'tough'_, got it?"

The bit of force he had put into his voice didn't seem to phase Lilah in the slightest. Her smile, if at all possible, became colder. Sharper. It was slightly impressive since as far as Xander knew, Lilah was completely human. Then again, she did work for an evil law firm so she was bound to have seen some pretty horrible things. It was respectable in its own way.

"Mr. Harris, I'm sure you can understand what kind of opportunity this is. The Senior Partners rarely make suggestions for employment. They've taken an interest in you," Lilah explained, leaning over the table giving Xander a view that would have distracted him not a year ago. Now, he just appreciated it for what it was and tried his hardest not to stare. His libido was still that of a seventeen year old after all.

Smirking, letting her know that he had taken the bait, Xander looked back at her eyes. "I have to admit, it's a tempting offer. I can definitely see the _perks _of the job, as they were. But, let's see. You've tried the straight approach, then flattering and now flirtation. Have I missed anything or are we done here?"

The smile disappeared instantly as Lilah sat back. Her face was hard, and there wasn't even the smallest amount of amusement on her face. "Alright, Harris, if that's how you want to play it, that's fine by me. I told them that this would be a waste of time but I tried which is all I had to do. Hand over the relic and you get to leave here in one piece. See, the one thing you did miss was the three heavily armed personal training guns on you at this very moment. I don't care what people say about you but you can't beat three of our men. Not all at the same time."

"No violence, remember? Wasn't that the whole reason you chose this place?" Xander asked, his eyes never leaving hers. He had noticed two of the men watching them. They had been in place before Lilah had ever arrived. The third, to their credit, he hadn't made out and still didn't know where he was. Damn.

Caritas was known for being a safe place, though. Violence was not only strongly discouraged but physically impossible. At least that's what he had been told before he came here. Obviously, Lilah and her people at Wolfram and Heart had either found a way around it or knew something that he didn't. Either way, it wasn't a good thing for him.

"I'm willing to bet that every single bullet finds its way right through that white coat of yours and straight through your heart, spell or no spell. I don't even know why they wanted me to waste my time on a little upstart like you," Lilah told him.

_'Spell? That's interesting,'_ Xander thought while staring at the lawyer before him. Slowly, so as to not raise any suspicion by anyone, especially Lilah, he started raising his gift searching for the spell that she had mentioned. The magic flared up almost instantly before him, it's intricate and complex web laid out before him. Along with about a hundred other things that where well hidden but he ignored them as best he could. After all, they ignored him so it was only fair.

"What about my payment?" Xander asked, buying himself time to work out the source of the spell that seemed to stop violence in the bar. It wasn't hard to pull it apart if he knew where it all came together and that took a little bit of time if he wanted to do it slowly and carefully.

"Payment?" Lilah snorted. "You really do think you're something, don't you?"

Grinning, Xander replied, "Lady, I _know_ I'm something. The question is do you know what I am? You say that you came to me because of what you heard and I'm betting that you've heard a lot. In that case then you know that I'm not the kind of person you want to stiff."

"Well, _Mr. Harris_," Lilah smirked, "I don't really give a damn about what they say about you. Some kid from the Hellmouth who no one saw coming may surprise some people but not me. You got Wilkins going nuts but honestly? Who really gives a damn? What I do know is that as long as you're in Sunnydale, we can't officially touch you. But wouldn't you know it, you're not in Sunnydale anymore. So, as far payment, I'll let you walk your ass out of here in one piece. Sounds fair?"

Xander finally found what he was looking for and grinned nastily at Lilah. "Last chance, Lilah. I'd hate for something to happen to you on the way out of here."

Matching his grin, Lilah said, "One little wave of my hand and you'll be learning how to breath with several new holes in your lungs. Now hand it over before I forget if fixing my hair is the sign to leave or to shoot you to death."

Reaching into his inside coat pocket, Xander removed a small velvet bag that contained the item in question. It wasn't much to look at. A small bone, roughly the size of his index finger, blackened by age and fire. It was a lot heavier than it should be but then again it wasn't a normal bone, human or otherwise. With a flick of his wrist, the bag landed on the table with a dull thud.

"There. That's what you're looking for anyway." Spotting the Host watching the exchange with a very unhappy look on his face, Xander wanted to get this done fast. "You never planned on paying me, did you?"

"My, you are the quick one, aren't you?" Lilah collected the bag and put it into her own pocket. "My job was to either bring you in or collect the artifact. How I did the last part wasn't specified."

"Try to stiff me, Lilah, and it's going to lead to a lot of problems for you."

Faking a shiver, Lilah stood up. "It never ceases to amaze me with people like you. You think this is the first time I've been threatened? Hell, you're not even that good at it. Word to the young and new at this. Learn who the winning team is. The offer stands when you wise up."

Watching as Lilah started to walk away and towards the exit, Xander stood up drawing a few looks from the people and demons around him. "Well, if that's everything then I guess you'll just be on your way then. I mean, if I were you I don't think I would want to stick around for long either. Carrying a Thul pointing bone is like walking around with a target on your head."

All noise in the bar stopped as everyone's attention became fixed on Xander and Lilah. The only sound was from the squeal of the sound system as the demon on stage dropped the mike too close to the speaker. The Thul pointing bone, a demon version of an Aboriginal pointing bone was a pretty serious artifact. That only made it damn interesting but it was more than some mystical do-dad. It was a holy grail of sorts to many of the more religious demonic clans out there. Wars had been fought over the mere mention of where one may be. What it could actually do had been debated since its creation, a subject that was also greatly discussed. All that anyone knew is that demons had been killing over this thing for as long as anyone could remember. Throwing their lives away, falling back to their most basic and primal instincts in order to get their hands on it. It wasn't the most powerful object on its own but the faith and blood that had been spilled in its name had changed it. Not by much, but enough that it was sought after with fervor and savage determination.

Out of the corner of his eye, Xander watched as the Host tried to make his way to the front of the bar to defuse the situation. By now, Xander had already found the exact point where the no violence spell was tied into the place. It was a simple little thing, elegant in its construction and powerful too boot. It was almost too easy to pull apart once he knew where to look though. Nothing this powerful could stand on its own for long. The Host probably had somebody or even several someone's reinforcing it every so often. Good for him. It shows that he was at least trying to keep his place from getting destroyed. Not that it was going to do him much good in a few moments, but still.

"Last chance, Lilah," Xander said just loud enough for her, and those with enhanced ear drums, to hear. "You can still walk away from this as long as you get me the money. Or you could just hand over the pointing bone. I'm sure I can find someone who'd be willing to pay."

As the well dressed lawyer turned around, the three armed men appeared next to her, training their guns on some of the closer demons, dismissing Xander as a threat for the time being. She didn't say anything, choosing to watch Xander and wait to see his next move. It had probably worked for her in the past, Xander mused. After all, to her he was just some kid who had a reputation that wasn't fully known yet and, in her mind, probably exaggerated.

He had made a name for himself back in Sunnydale and it had spilled over a bit it seemed but not to the point where they had any idea of what he could really do. It was something that both worked for and against him. A reputation could do a lot for a person, as John had often mused. It kept the flies off. If you had a really good reputation, or bad depending on your point of view, then it could not only keep people away but it could be used as a weapon that could beat even the best gun and magic slingers around. Not having a reputation though, meant that they didn't know what he could do and that meant he could surprise them.

Behind him, Xander could not only hear but could feel the demons and creatures growling and advancing slowly. None of them knew that the spell protecting the place was going to be brought down and while they were inching closer to Lilah, they hadn't made a move because of it. Keeping a slight hold on the fabric of the enchantment, Xander took a few steps closer, ignoring the guns that now wavered towards him once in a while.

"I did warn you," Xander told her, raising a hand into the air for dramatic effect.

"No violence, remember? Meaning that the mob back there can't do shit to me," Lilah told him, her lips pulled up in an evil, yet attractive smirk. It didn't hide the fear in her eyes though.

Shrugging, Xander snapped his fingers and, with his mind, pulled on the string tying the spell together. Instantly, a wave of energy extending from all sides was pulled towards the center of the bar and disappeared in a bright light. It took two seconds before everyone besides Xander and the Host knew what had happened. Xander, having been the one to take down the spell, used the momentary distraction to rush Lilah and pull her to the side. The Host, also well aware of what had just happened, took the time to rush the bar and hide behind it.

After those couple of seconds of confusion, both the demons and the gun men started to attack. The first wave of creatures full to the well placed bullets but they didn't stand a chance under the overwhelming numbers. Once the demons broke the line, the goons where taken care of quickly. After that, it became a free for all. Demon versus demon and the only rule seemed to be that you didn't attack your own kind. After all, this was a holy object and you might need a sacrifice or two from within your own clan. Either way, it provided Xander with the much needed distraction to pull Lilah up the stairs and out of the bar.

She fought him once they were outside but he outweighed her by more than a few pounds and pulled her down the alleyway a safe distance from the entrance in case someone broke through and noticed where they were.

"Christ, will you let go of me already? You're going to wrinkle the jacket." Lilah tried to pull her arm out of his grasp but he held it firmly.

"Sorry, next time I'll _let_ the demon horde rip you apart like a wishbone." Xander twisted her arm a little, making her exhale in pain. "Now, the offer still stands. Money or bone. Lady's choice."

Xander could tell that she was considering telling him off again but whatever she had planned on saying died in her throat when he looked into her eyes. Lilah Morgan may be used to dealing with scum, demons, and evil lawyers but compared to what Xander had seen through John, that was nothing and it showed in his eyes. John Taylor had been called the Hard Man, among many other names, and Xander had "inherited" that trait from him. If he stared hard enough Lilah wouldn't stand a chance.

After a real shiver ran through her body, Lilah's calm and cold exterior reappeared. "The Senior partners are going to hand me my head over this. Probably literally, you know."

"You work for an evil law firm. Am I supposed to feel bad for you?"

"It pays well," Lilah smirked, reaching into her coat with her free hand. "I have to ask,"

she said, holding the bag out to him, "As one professional to another, how did you pull that off? Our people haven't ever been able to make a dent in that enchantment in all the time that it's been in place."

Taking the bag, Xander placed it inside his white trench coat, letting Lilah go. The growls started sounding louder and they both knew that someone or several someone's had managed to win the fight down in the bar. Time was getting short and it was time to make his less then dazzling getaway.

"Don't bother calling me again, Lilah," Xander told her turning away and walking out towards the street, not bothering to wait to see if she responded.

Once he made it out onto the street, Xander picked up the pace, heading down the sidewalk as fast as he could without running. This was always the hardest part for him. Not doing the job itself. Hell, not even making sure he got paid for the job was as bad as this. It was when things went south that he really hated this line of work. He could handle most things that happened. Well, truth be told he would usually wing it like he had back there, which was fine with him. He did that more often than not anyway. Plans where easy to come up with but they also fell apart just as easily. Still, he could do without the shakes he got after every time something like this happened. Damn adrenaline rush.

When he was sure he was a good distance away from the bar, he slowed to merely a fast walk and assumed his usual scowl he had adopted when walking down the street. It kept the wrong sort of people away, for one thing, and it usual got him a lot of space on the sidewalk. In Sunnydale that was never a problem either way but out here in L.A., the sidewalks where crowded and he didn't feel like shoving his way through them.

The deal may have gone bad but he was sure that he could sell the pointing bone and make a profit from it. Once he got back into town he'd have Willie put the word out, for the usual percentage of course, and be done with it. Willie's place would be the first place he stopped by once he got back into to town then. Having the damn thing on him for longer than necessary was asking for trouble now that the word was out that it had been found and he was sure that some of those demons had gotten a look at him.

Stopping, he looked up at the street signs and silently cursed to himself. Twice this very night, his inner thoughts had kept him from paying attention to his surroundings and he now had no idea where he was. To make matters worse, he couldn't remember where he had parked his car. Well, it wasn't his car, it was Angel's. Not that the vampire would need it at the moment considering what was going on back home, but still.

Sighing, he opened up his inner eye again and found which direction he needed to go in to get back to his car. All he really wanted to do at this point was to get home and fall into his bed. Luckily, L.A. was only a couple hours ride from Sunnydale so he should be home soon enough.

* * *

Five hours later, Xander pulled the car into the parking space with as much force as he could without hitting any of the other cars. What should have been a two hour ride at most had turned into five hours of hell and traffic making for one extremely irritable Xander. He hadn't even bothered going to Willie's once he got into town fearing what he might do if someone decided to pick a fight with him just to try and be a big man. He wouldn't walk away from a fight, not anymore, but he tried not to do anything too permanent, even if it was a demon. Unless of course it was some soulless, evil bastard, then all bets where off.

Something that had become very obvious having spent a lot of his time working within the demonic community was that the majority of them weren't all that bad. Yes, some eat babies, some fed off fear and some killed people for the fun of it, but for the most part they didn't really go in for all of that. If someone was stupid enough to try and take them on, it was one thing but other than that, they tried to make their own way in this world. The ones who did cross the line found out very fast that they didn't have a long life expectancy if they messed with him. His reputation kept most of them well away but those that didn't had themselves wishing they had, usually before they went off to that big fiery pit down below. It wasn't that he had become some kind of big time demon hunter. He just didn't hold back as much when he first started using John's gift. Not only that, but some of the tricks and tactics that he had gained as well came in handy. Nothing like making a pencil appear inside of a vampire's heart to make an impression. It was tricky and he needed a few moments to get himself ready to do it, but damn if it didn't work like a charm.

It was one of the many things that had changed in the past few months. He had become a bit more of a bastard then he had ever thought he could be. People annoyed him more than usual as well as situations. For some reason he couldn't seem to get comfortable anymore. If he had nothing to do and he wasn't working on a case then he was restless and grouchy. Since Sunnydale wasn't the hotbed of work load that the Nightside was, cases weren't exactly pilling up. Oh, there were enough that he could pay any bills he had and make rent but nothing was all that challenging. More than once he found himself thinking about hopping a plane and heading to the Nightside if only for a little while. Of course, right after he thought about it he would immediately get flash backs to the nightmares that where only now starting to let up.

He missed being busy, he missed the excitement that life and death struggles gave him. Both when he was just fighting alongside Buffy and Willow and later while doing his little ride along in John's head. It had taken him a few years while with John to understand that while he was scared to death of the things he went up against, he also craved it a bit. The fight, the adrenalin that coursed through his veins from it. It was why it messed with him that afterwards he was such a wreck. It made no sense to him but then again, he tried to stay away from introspection. At this point, he didn't know what he would find if he looked inside of himself and he didn't want to find out.

The walk from the car to the apartment was uneventful but he still kept his guard up. This was still Sunnydale and reputation or not, something was always lurking in the shadows to come after you if you weren't careful. Letting himself in, Xander shut the door and nearly jumped out of his skin when a light turned itself on in the open living area.

"Angel," Xander said, letting his voice drop all emotion as he looked at the vampire sitting in the chair next to the light switch. His heart was still beating pretty fast which he knew would be hard for Angel to miss but with the way Angel had been acting lately it was best to put up a good hard defense right away. He didn't want him smelling fear on him giving him a reason to pounce.

Angel merely sat still, glaring. The scowl on his face might have intensified but that was all the movement that Xander was able to see. Xander considered himself damn good at staring down his enemies, especially if he pushed it. There was no doubt in his mind that he could make Angel's eyes roll in the back of his head and have him curled up in a ball if he actually put some power into it. But without doing something like that, Angel had him beat hands down. After all, the guy had almost two hundred years of practice. So when he felt his own glare start to break, he let it and dropped the act. Best to start straight out the door then wait for him to make the first move.

"Come on! You didn't really expect me to take the bus to L.A., did you?" Xander threw his hands into the air as he cried out.

"You stole my car! My car that no one even knew I had!" Angel jumped up, letting his calm and cold exterior fall away as well. "How the hell did you even find out about it?"

Shrugging off his coat and hanging it on a hook by the door, Xander said, "You take it for a joy ride at least once a week. You know, for someone who's supposed to be all sneaky and stealthy you might want to consider a car with a quieter engine."

As Xander walked into the kitchenette, Angel followed, clearly not about to let the conversation drop. "You stole my car. _My_ car, Xander. Mine!"

"Well, I hope it was your car," Xander joked. "Who the hell did you even get one of those? I'm not a car guy but even I know that it had to cost a pretty penny."

Mumbling in response, Angel ran a hand through his hair, ignoring the confused look Xander shot him. Some of his anger and annoyance fell away but he wasn't about to let Xander off the hook that easily.

"It doesn't matter how I got the car. The point is that it's my car. If you had just asked me I would have-"

"Completely blown me off about it," Xander cut him off. "You didn't even mention it when I said I had to head to L.A. last time or this time. You know, a guy could start to take offense."

Xander felt Angel staring at the back of his head while he busied himself in the kitchen. He wasn't really looking for anything but if he stopped moving then he would have to face Angel and probably talk to him and get chewed out for taking his car. Granted, he should have asked first but that would have resulted in the idea getting shot down. Really, stealing the thing was his only course of action.

Finally, he heard Angel let out a breath.

"Did you at least fill it up?"

Grinning to himself, Xander nodded. "Most of the way. I didn't want to risk using any of the gas stations this late at night in town. No telling who would work the night shift in those places."

Grabbing two cups from the cupboard, Xander went about making a pot of coffee. Sleep wasn't going to come to him, no matter how hard he tried at the moment and since there were still a few good hours of night time left, Angel wasn't bound to try and sleep either. So for the next few moments, Xander went about making the coffee while Angel went back into the living room to do whatever he had been doing before he scared the hell out of Xander. Knowing him it was probably reading some boring old tome or a wordy book of poetry or something else that he was usually fond of.

Xander had moved in about a month after the whole incident with Spike and Drusilla. Before that he had been sleeping in the back of Willie's Place, for a small charge of course, but it wasn't working out. Willie was fine about it, but there wasn't much in the way of privacy and when someone or something got wind of it, trouble usual came with them. Of course since it was Willie's Place it was hard to tell if he was the cause of the fighting or if it was just a usual night. Again, Willie was OK with it since Xander was not only giving him money but helped to stop some of the fights that broke out if he was there.

After those couple of weeks though Xander wasn't able to take it anymore. Initially he had just asked Angel to help him find a place to crash. Since he was a vampire and all, he thought that he would be able to come up with a good squatting location. It came as a bit of a shock that he had offered up his place till he found an actually apartment that he could afford. Since he wasn't making a ton of cash it was harder than either one of them thought. Xander had since set up in a back room that was only slightly larger than the one back in Willie's place but it kept him out of the main area in case Buffy ever stopped by. They both had agreed that it was best that she didn't know. Angel didn't enjoy keeping it from her but Buffy would have reacted violently had he said anything.

Come to think of it, Buffy hadn't stopped by a whole lot since her birthday. Xander had been in the middle of a case, finding the symbiotic parasite of a Glarknicks demon, and had missed all the festivities. Spike and Drusilla had assembled something called the Judge and where bent on letting it loose to destroy all of humanity, starting with Buffy and the rest of them.

Angel and Buffy had managed to escape their first encounter with the Judge and had tried to make a dash for it back to Angel's place. It came as a surprise to both of them when Angel bounced off the threshold and went crashing back down the ladder and into the sewer. After a few moments of running about, they retreated back to the library where Buffy wanted an explanation. Xander had wished he could have been there to witness the awkwardness of the situation just to have something to laugh at. Although, it was funny to come home and find Angel sitting outside the apartment waiting for Xander to invite him in. Even though it was Angel's apartment, at some point it became Xander's as well and the vampire in Angel needed an invite. Needless to say, Angel had been rather touchy around him and Buffy was suspect of what was going on with him.

Xander was still there and paying rent to Angel despite his refusal to take it. He was stubborn but Xander won out. What amazed him more was that the two of them actual got along pretty well, even with the bickering and good natured teasing. Neither knew if it would have been the case what happened on Halloween hadn't happened. They shared a bond in their separate guilt and self blame for things that couldn't possibly have been their fault. That and both had a better understanding of the underworld and the real world then Buffy and the rest of them. Both of them had seen and done things that none of the others could comprehend and it was best if they didn't. Still, Xander couldn't help but bug the vampire ever chance he got. If anything it livened up the conversations.

"So, how did it go anyway? Any problems?" Angel asked once both where sitting down in the living area.

Blowing out a breath, Xander shook his head but laughed as Angel put down an old leather bound book. "Tons. What made me think taking a job from an evil law firm was a good thing?"

"How bad was it?" Angel asked, leaning forward.

"The car's fine," Xander laughed when he noticed the slightly relieved look on Angel's face. "The worst part is that I didn't get paid. Well, that and I think I might not ever be allowed at Caritas ever again."

"Caritas?"

"Demon karaoke bar. Don't ask me, I didn't make the place."

"It means Charity," Angel offered. When Xander just looked at him he asked, "So, a fight?"

Looking slightly sheepish, Xander said, "I sort of tore down their security system and started a demon clan fight so I could grab the bone from the lawyer. But in my defense, she wasn't going to pay me. Did try to hit on me though, but it was part of her job. What is it about evil that makes woman so hot anyway?"

Ignoring the question, Angel rubbed his eyes. "You started a clan war and made an enemy out of a law firm that you say represents every form of evil and demon that they can?"

"Huh? Oh, yea. Pretty much." Xander looked thoughtful for a moment before adding, "They where scouting me out. Tried to get me to sign up with them and all that."

The conversation turned a lot more serious at the mention of nearly being recruited. "Wolfram and Heart wanted you to work for them and instead of just turning them down you started a fight between a bunch of demons so you could grab the bone?"

"Pretty much, yea. Oh, don't give me that look. It's about principle. I can't let any of them walk all over me. Not now, not ever. If I do it would be open season on me."

"They're going to retaliate," Angel stated after a pause. "And if they're as bad as everything that you've found out it's going to be messy."

"Yea, I know," Xander said quietly. "I would say that I should get out of town but I have a feeling that they can't really influence anything here. If they could why not come here and talk to me instead of sending an errand boy and then making me head out to L.A.? The only place I know that they can't reach is the Nightside and that...that isn't an option."

"That makes sense," Angel mused.

Shrugging, Xander said, "Don't give me the credit on that one. Lawyer Bitch pretty much told me as much."

"You said that they represent the Mayor, right? If that's the case then he might be the reason they can't touch you. And he isn't allowed to come after you in any kind of official way, either," Angel said, clearly thinking out loud.

Nodding, Xander supplied, "Not that it stopped those vamps last month who just happened to work for Cheerful. I think it must have sent a message though. I haven't been hassled by anything having to do with him since then."

Nodding in agreement, Angel sat back again, taking a sip of his coffee. "So you can't run, staying here may be safest but if you do that then we put everyone at risk. Just because you're not on speaking terms with everyone doesn't mean they won't hit you there if they can."

"What's this 'we' stuff?"

"Don't play dumb with me. If they come after you then they come after me too. Even if they weren't going to hurt anyone else I still wouldn't leave you to fend for yourself."

"I think I liked it better when I just hated you and wanted to push you in front of a sunny window," Xander smirked. "You were a lot less girly."

"Hey! I am not girly," Angel glared.

"Says the man wearing two tons of hair products. How the hell do you even get it to look like that anyway without a mirror? It's not natural."

Grumbling, Angel gave him one last look before taking his coffee and going into the alcove where his bed was set up. He came back a moment later, grabbed the book off the coffee table, and with one last glare, went back to his 'room'.

Despite the messing around with Angel, Xander was starting to get nervous. Wolfram and Hart was a very big threat. Big for him anyway. John had taken down things worse than them but then again, that was John. He wasn't John despite what his thoughts and memories might sometimes say. Hell, despite what some of his actions said too. No, he was still Xander. Sure he had more years of experience more than other people his age, about thirty years more to be exact. He was harder and more cold then anyone that he currently knew that had a soul, and if he was honest, even than some without. But, he wasn't the power that John was even with all of that. He was still frightened of what he could do in a lot of ways. It had been months since he had felt anything try to break through to him when he was using his gift but that didn't mean anything. Add Wolfram and Hart to the picture, and let's not forget Mr. Cheerful, to the mix and things where starting to look a bit intense.

Sighing, he picked himself off the chair and headed into his room to pretend to get some sleep. He'd deal with the assorted mess tomorrow. For tonight, he merely wanted to catch what little shut eye he could and pretend that nothing had changed. That he would wake up tomorrow in his old abusive household, go to his almost literally hellish school and fight an army of demons and assorted creatures later at night with his friends. You know, normal stuff. After all, he could still dream, right?


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: First off, thanks to everyone who has either reviewed or set up an alert. There isn't a whole lot to say at this point. Oh, but I did want to say that music has helped inspire the feeling of this fic. So if any of you know Social Distortion and the Supersuckers, you might get a bit of an insight into how I picture Xander's mind being. Alright folks, enjoy and have fun and let me know what you think.**_

The kettle whistled letting him know that the water had boiled. It had been whistling for almost ten minutes and whatever boiled water was left in it wouldn't be enough for a cup of tea. Rupert Giles didn't care about any of that at the moment, though. He was so wrapped up in the letter he was reading that everything else had been blocked out of his senses. The small office inside of the school library he sat in could have caught on fire and he still might have missed it. No, that was a lie. He wouldn't have missed _that_ happening if only so that he could make sure that he got all of his research material out of their in one piece.

He stopped reading when he reached the end and, for the fifth time in a row, started again from the beginning. It was a very long letter, to be honest, and one that had taken him months to get. All of his contacts had been tapped in order for the pieces of paper in his hand to get to him and he would be the first to admit that he was getting a bit obsessive with it. But who wouldn't? After all of these years, after so many sleepless nights, he was so close to being able to rest. To put _her_ to rest.

After starting the second paragraph he was startled by the papers being snatched out of his hands. He nearly toppled over the chair he was in and would have had it not been for the quick reflexes of Buffy Summers. It seemed only fair that she caught him since she had grabbed the papers from him in the first place.

"Buffy," Giles said after collecting himself. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Not surprised. I think your tea pots burned, by the way," she told him, placing the pages down on his desk.

Before the papers could settle, Giles scoped them up and moved past Buffy into the main part of the library, turning the hotplate off on his way out. "Yes, well, I think I'll manage somehow."

"Those have anything to do with your super secret research project?" Buffy asked.

Opening up the book cage, Giles replied, "Yes, actually it does."

Buffy watched Giles as he proceeded to unlock a special filing cabinet that he had brought in a few months ago. It was small and as far as she knew, it was filled only with things that concerned this project of his. What it was, she hadn't a clue since he refused to talk about it with her.

Not bothering to ask and either get turned down yet again and possibly make him even tenser Buffy sighed and let it drop. "Patrol was pretty standard last night. Just two vamps this time. No one got hurt. You know, except the vampires. But if you asking me, they deserved it."

"Uh huh."

"Willow and Oz tagged along. He's taken to the whole undead and evil running about a lot easier than I thought," Buffy mused, watching to see if she got a response from her Watcher.

"Yes, right," he mumbled.

"And afterwards we hung around in the back of his van and had a Roman orgy with Mr. Magoo."

"Of course-wait, what?" Giles said, snapping out of his thoughts.

Letting another sigh escape her lips, the small blonde hopped up onto one of the tables and looked at Giles. "Alright, I get it. You're all wrapped up in whatever it is your doing but Giles. You have to snap out of it. Even Ms. Calendars starting to worry about it and as much as I refuse to acknowledge that you two have any sort of social life, I have to say that you're going to blow it. After that whole mess with the Judge I would think that you two would start being more careful."

Locking the cabinet and the book cage, Giles turned to Buffy fully intent on telling her to mind her own business. However, the look she was giving him wasn't that of the Slayer but rather of the young woman he cared for personally, as a daughter if he was honest with himself. Reigning in his initial anger, he said, "Thank you, Buffy. I'll take it under advisement."

"Is that stuffy British guy talk for you'll start acting like yourself again?"

Smiling despite himself, Giles nodded. "I believe I may have found the answers I was looking for anyway. I just need to confirm it with a source and…and I can put the whole thing behind me."

"Anything you need help with?"

"No, no. The, uh, man I need to speak with is actually here, in town," Giles said, getting somewhat nervous. "I don't believe it will be too hard getting him to speak with me."

"Cool," Buffy said, sliding off the table. "I'll be by later for training and then me and Willow are going to head out for some much needed girl time before patrol."

"Of course," nodding as his charge left for class.

Once gone, Giles quickly unlocked the book cage again and headed for the filing cabinet. The information stored in it wasn't something that he felt could be left around where any prying eyes, namely Buffy and Willow, could see. Some of it was too personal while the rest of it dealt with a subject matter that was best left alone. After all, the two of them had just started to fully recover from everything that had taken place last Halloween and the subsequent weeks following it. If they found out that he not only was looking into where Xander was but that he was also looking into the man that the boy had turned into that night, it would not go over well.

It wasn't as if he felt that he should keep these things from them but considering why he was looking into all of it he could hardly be blamed for wanting to keep it to himself. He didn't agree with Xander's choices by any means but they were his choices. He could respect that at least were the girls could not. At this point, they would probably try to 'talk some sense' into Xander's head never understanding the hardships that he had endured. The young man had seen the dark side of life and came out through the other side. He was changed and again, while Giles may not agree with him, he understood it. The boy had to be allowed to make his own way in the world as he saw fit. Though if the young man ever did anything that hurt his charges, he wouldn't hesitate to take him down when the time came.

But, he needed answers now. He needed to confirm that not only that the…_thing _dead, but that its worshipers had been released as well. Everything he had found seemed to say that the monstrosity had been dealt with by John Taylor but a few said otherwise, that it was still thriving out there in the world. Contacting Taylor was out of the question since no one he knew would even try even if they knew how. Instead they tried to reach out to someone who seemed to have a relationship with it but that had proved useless. Apparently she was dead as well. John Taylors name had popped up again when it came to the woman's death.

His only choice was to speak to Xander, to ask him what had happened, what had truly happened. He didn't care if Xander spat on him for how they treated him after his ordeal so long as he got the truth. He would go to any means to get the information, pay any price and if it turned out that they had all been misled, that the…_thing_ was still alive, well, then he would deal with it himself. You do those sorts of things for family, after all, for your sister.

_**BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK**_

The last rays of sunshine shone brightly causing Xander to squint as he walked the streets heading towards Willie's Place. Sunlight was still something that bothered him and even though his body was more than used to it, his mind wasn't. If he could help it, he never went out during the day. Even though he felt more comfortable at night his reasons were entirely practical. For starters, most of his clientele came out at night and he had learned to adapt his body to those hours. It didn't make any sense for him to move about in the daytime since he was going to spend most of the night awake as well. Granted he still didn't sleep too well, but he was getting better and those few hours he got were sorely needed.

But the main reason he stayed away from the sunlight was that it was harder to move around during those hours. Too many bright places and not nearly enough shadows. Plus, with this being Sunnydale and all, more people stayed in during the night for obvious reasons. That meant that they spent as much time as they could walking around when it wasn't night and the streets got crowded for a little town. It was easy to be spotted by people he would rather avoid unless it was absolutely necessary and with classes having just let out for the day, he knew that it was going to be harder to do.

Ducking down each and every alley way he could, Xander managed to get to Willie's with spotting only the occasional face but made sure he wasn't seen. It had taken longer than he would have liked but it was worth it in his opinion. It would just be too awkward, not to mention complicated, if he accidently bumped into anyone that he actually knew.

Christ. He could just imagine walking into Buffy or Willow. Now _that_ scared him. Either one of them would probably try and beat him to a pulp on the spot. Oddly enough, he was more frightened of Willow at this point than Buffy. Buffy may be the Slayer and strong as hell but Willow, well, there just wasn't a way for him to lift a finger to defend himself against her even with the ways he had changed. Besides, he was fairly certain that his former best friend was going to be a heavy hitter with the magic if she ever took it up. The few times he had been around her after getting John's abilities he had sensed an aura of power just at the edge of his senses. When he felt around a bit more he could see it coming from the red head and it pulsed with energy. It was only faint because it was untapped but she had the ability to become something fierce.

Xander walked into Willie's Place and did a quick scan of the place as he made his way to the bar. It was surprisingly full for this time of day. In the far corner a few yellow skinned reptilian like demons were talking loudly. At least Xander thought they were talking. It wasn't any language he had ever heard before and with all the hissing involved they could just as well be singing the national anthem as talking about how best to cook human kidneys.

Other than that group, it was the usual crowd that was milling about. A few different breeds of basically harmless demons and creatures. Most of the patrons that came into Willie's Place now tended to be either passive or borderline nasty. The really evil things had learned to find other places to get together since Xander started using this place as his hangout. If anything it had actually improved business for the place. Now if fights broke out it was your typical, albeit demonic, barroom brawl. It could still get out of hand but no one that came in here did so looking for a fight. It still happened, but only rarely. Case in point, the three vampires that suddenly started eyeing him from the other end of the bar. He'd let them make the first move though, if they did anything at all.

Coming up to Xander with an annoyed look on his face, Willie shook his head. The guy was originally from New York, something that was hard to miss the moment he opened his mouth. He was a bit on the shorter side, his hair beginning to thin slightly. Unlike Alex Morrissey, owner and operator of Strangefellows, the oldest bar in the Nightside if not the world, and a friend of John's, Willie was generally an upbeat person when you got to know him. Sure, he was always looking for an angle and dealt in some questionable business ventures but that was who he was. Besides, it was those very dealings that Xander was here. But first he had to hear Willie go off about whatever it was that was bothering him this time. It seemed that it was in the bartender handbook to be disgruntled.

"Hey there Willie," Xander says putting on his best smile. "How's my favorite bartender?"

Willie stopped what he was doing and stared at him for a moment before snorting. "How am I doin'? Kid, how does it look like I'm doin'? It's barely five and the place is packed. In fact, it's been packed for the past two hours and I'm workin' myself to the bone just to get the drinks out before a fight breaks out just so these guys can get drunk enough to start a fight later on. So go on, ask me how I'm doin' again!"

Still grinning, Xander leaned in closer to Willie. "Well, if that's what's bothering you then I've got just the thing to make your night."

"Is that so? Cause unless it's some sort of help for the night then I'm thinkin' it's just something you want me to pawn off and in that case forget it, kid."

"You haven't even heard what it is yet!"

Shaking his head, Willie leaned closer to Xander. "Word is that something dangerous found its way into town and between you and me, I don't want to be anywhere near anyone who's looking to buy. I got a reputation in this town, kid, and it's not exactly a good one. I haven't kept myself alive this long by bein' stupid."

Dropping the smile, Xander started to get concerned. Willie had always been one to broker deals for anyone or anything no matter what the danger, provided that the pay off was good enough. If something was spooking him enough to get him to steer clear of the whole scene altogether then it was probably time to start gathering as much information as he could. Whatever was being brought onto the old Hellmouth might be something that would require Angel to send a message to Buffy and the rest of them or he might have to step in himself. It wouldn't be the first time he had helped the Scooby Gang from the shadows.

"Willie, level with me. What's being brought in?"

Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, Willie eyed the bar for anyone who may be listening in before whispering something so softly that Xander had to ask him to repeat it. "A Thul Pointing Bone," he whispered again.

"What?!?"

"Shhh! Will keep your voice down, Harris?" Willie hissed. "I'm trying to avoid an all out fight. Just mentioning the damn thing seems to set people off."

Swallowing hard, Xander felt his hands grow sweaty. He had the Thul Pointing Bone in his coats pocket and while he was confident in himself it was only to a point. He couldn't take the karaoke bar full of demons and he couldn't do the same thing here. Well, that wasn't entirely true but he still wasn't embracing all of what John could do. Also he didn't feel like taking out the building itself just to make it out alive when simply playing it cool would work.

Coughing softly, Xander felt his voice crack just slightly as he started to talk again. "So, um, someone's brought that..._thing_ to Sunnydale, huh?"

Willie didn't miss the change in body language. Give the man his credit, he ran a bar were the wrong click of a tongue could start a clan fight. If he didn't take notice of these things he wouldn't be here. "Yea, Harris. _Someone_ did," he said slowly. "That _someone_ is looking to be the biggest target in this town since the Slayer made her way here."

_'Crap,'_ Xander thought. "So, any word on who might have done it?"

Shaking his head slightly, Willie answered, "Nope. Word is that it was from someone in L.A. who made a grab for it and is tryin' to bring it here. I'm thinking that whenever he gets here it's only a matter of time before the demons and the like that are following him show up as well. Add them to the usual types this town attracts and I don't really feel like bein' in this guys shoes, ya know?"

_'Double crap,'_ Xander thought, trying to not go pale at the information. "Hmmm...something to think about, Willie. Alright, I'll let you deal with the riff raft then."

As Xander turned and headed for the door, Willie called out to him. "Hey, kid! Take care of yourself, alright?"

Nodding and giving him a smirk that didn't have any feeling in it, Xander left and was once again greeted by the last few rays of the setting sun. It will keep the vampires inside away from him but they where the least of his troubles.

Lilah, the bitch that she was, must have put the word out about the Thul Bone and now every damn demon that wanted to either use it or sell it would be well on their way to Sunnydale to get it. The target on his forehead suddenly felt bigger and it took everything in him not to just strike out at the nearest person walking on the street. No, he didn't have time to simply get angry, he needed to plan.

He needed to get rid of the damn thing, that was for sure but more than that he needed to throw the trail to somewhere much less crowded. Even with the blanket of ignorance that the town slept under no one would be able to ignore the kind of violence that the demons that would be coming to look for this thing would cause. Most of them where content to stay in the shadows but they still held to certain beliefs and would have no problem tearing through the town just to get the Bone. Too many people would be hurt and dead if that happened and even more if any of them actually did get their hands on it depending on what they wanted to do with it. Either way he needed to do something about it. It was his fault that this was even happening, well technically it was his and Lilah's fault. If she had just paid him...

Screw it. He couldn't go to any of his normal sources. At best they would kick him out and maybe even use his name as leverage to keep themselves safe, at worse they would kill him outright and use the Bone themselves. Not being able to trust most of the people you deal with was one of the downside's to the business he was in. It was time to stop screwing around. The clock was ticking and he knew who he had to go and see. It was a long shot to get him to help him at first but once he knew what was at stake there wasn't a doubt in his mind he wouldn't do what he could. Getting him to listen, however, was going to be a problem.

_**BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK**_

It had only been months but it felt like years since the last time he had been inside of Sunnydale High School. He had outgrown the place and all of little bits of high school melodrama seemed so much smaller and insignificant than they had before. Before when he would walk its halls everything seemed lively, big, and important. Now all he felt was the undercurrent of magic that the Hellmouth spewed out and the stillness of death that had nothing to do with the empty hallways. This was a place of evil and untapped dark magic. The very fact that someone had went ahead and built a High School over it was only poetic but it didn't add to the energy in the air like he had once thought. It could have been a vet's office that had set up shop here and things still would have shaped up the same.

Xander had waited till well after nightfall before coming to the school. The light had been on in the library and when Xander peered through the raised window he didn't see anyone inside but the lights in Giles small office were on. If he was timing it right, Buffy should be out on patrol and barring any kind of major evil going on, which Xander hadn't heard anything about, then Willow shouldn't be there either. There was always a risk of Jenny being there, the two had seemed to be well on the road to developing some kind of relationship last he had seen, but he had to risk it. If anything she would only be an asset in helping him work out a way to get rid of this thing.

As softly as he could, Xander pushed the door to the library open and simply stood for a moment. Memories that seemed like long ago to him, and they were anyway, rushed back to him. None of them were particularly good but some stood out more than others. Late night study or research sessions that actually where enjoyable and fun, so long as you didn't count the fact that they were researching demons. Of course there were the non-evil and world ending memories that came to mind but those that did were few and far between. One of the side effects of being in someone else's head for near thirty years was that your own life was sometimes hard to remember, especially the not so vivid parts. It was one of these little things that no one seemed to realize that had pushed him away from all of them as well as the more obvious ones.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Xander walked over to the librarian's office door and peered in the window. Giles was looking a bit more ragged around the edges then he had ever seen him before. His hair was sticking up in places as if he had been running his hand though it over and over again. The clothes he wore were just as bad, the amount of wrinkles making it look as if he had slept in them. But even worse were the man's eyes. They simply look tired. That bone weary tiredness that made a man look haunted. Xander considered letting him be and finding another way. It was only a brief moment, however, but in the end he still needed to do it.

Deciding for a bit of the dramatic, if only to have fun, Xander calmly leaned against one of the study tables and faced the office door. He waited for a good ten minutes, and was almost ready to start coughing loudly, before the older man went to leave his office. Giles probably would have missed him standing there with the way he seemed to be staring at the legal pad in his hand, his face the epitome of concentration. Though it seemed to work out better then Xander could have planned since when Giles did notice him the pad flew up into the air as the Watcher stumbled backwards.

Neither man said a word, only watching each other for a moment. Xander, with a casual half grin on his face and Giles with an almost comical wide eyed stare.

"Hey there, G-Man," Xander greeted trying his best to remain light. Xander dropped the small smirk and stood up. "I know that this isn't exactly the way I would have liked to see you again but I kind of need your help."

Instantly Giles changed. He was no longer the slightly awkward and completely knowledgeable librarian Xander had known him to be. His face grew cold, his eyes hard and he stood taller, tenser. It was as if his mind and body language pulled a one-eighty. No, this wasn't Giles any more. This was Ripper, the person that Giles used to be back in his younger days.

"Why are you here?" Giles asked. It wasn't really the question though. The words may have said that but his tone had a different message in mind. Mainly, 'What the hell do you want and if it's not good I will make you pay.'

At one point, Xander would have been scared. He had no doubt that Giles would try to make good on the veiled threat, but if it came down to it, Xander wouldn't hesitate to do something violent and permanent to the man.

"Like I said, I need your help. There's something in town and it's going to make things a bit too messy, even by our standards," Xander told him steadily. "A Thul Pointing Bone, ever hear of it?"

If seeing Xander had flipped Giles to the Ripper then mentioning the Bone sent him right back to the other side. His face paled slightly and his eyes lost the violent edge, gaining instead the look they held before with a hint of fear. "Th-the, uh, Thul Bone? Are you sure?"

Digging into his pocket, Xander produced the small bag that held the object. "Yea, pretty sure."

"Dear Lord," Giles moved a step back. "Is that...?"

"Yea. And we have maybe a day or so to not only get rid of this thing but also get every demon, warlock and witch to know that it's no longer here. No one I know will touch it and if something isn't done about it then this place will be overrun with all sorts of nasties that won't play nice."

"What in the hell were you thinking?" Giles hissed. "Do you have any idea what bringing something like that here could do, how much power it has?"

"Why do you think I'm looking to get rid of the damn thing?"

His composure returned and Giles was once again steely eyed and angry. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare attempt to be glib with me, not after everything that has happened. You come here after being gone for months and look for my assistance as if nothing has changed, as if nothing had happened?"

"We don't have time for this," Xander told him, ignoring his comments. "There isn't a whole lot of time and I need to figure out how to do this. If you want to play at being angry and hurt because I took off then fine but do it after this is done with. Either help or I'm doing it on my own. But I can promise you that if I do it on my own then it won't end nearly as clean as any of us would like."

It took Giles a moment to get himself under control enough to speak and when he did it came out in harsh, snapping tones. "Fine. What exactly do you have planned?"

"That's kind of the thing. The plan I have isn't exactly a sure fire way to be rid of it. I was hoping that maybe you knew of something else, maybe some way to simply make the damn thing disappear off the face of the Earth."

"No," Giles told him shaking his head. "The Thull Bone is impervious to any sort of relocation spell. You might as well just stand in the middle of town and throw the thing as far as you could for all the good it would do. What about your, um, your 'gift'? Couldn't you simply make it worthless? Destroy the ambient magic that it holds?"

This time Xander shook his head. "Already thought of it. This thing doesn't even come up on my radar as being mystical. My guess is that it doesn't even begin to warm up without some kind of Word of Power. Those sorts of things are always a letdown. They always seem to run out of juice right when you need them the most."

"Right, uh, of course," Giles responded, though clearly not understanding fully. "Even if we got rid of the blasted thing how are we to stop all of it's would be possessors from searching for it here?"

"Well, what I had in mind might just do it but the problem is I can't do it on my own. I don't even know if it would work or not. My first idea is that if we can put back up the spells that where keeping it hidden, it might just do the job for us."

"Enchantments? Of course! Breaking th-th-those spells must have sent out some sort of a signal alerting everyone to its location. It didn't just keep it hidden and protected it actively kept people from finding it the damn thing!"

"I thought you said that the Bone couldn't be hidden like that?"

"That's what they say," Giles told him. "But without knowing any of the specifics, I can't say for sure what it was the spell did. Th-there is a chance that the magic of the spell was either highly powerful or designed specifically for the Bone. But if breaking the spell caused everyone to notice it, then it's safe to say that it was hiding it."

"That would make sense." Xander eyed the wall for a moment. There wasn't any need to correct him or let him know about Wolfram and Hart putting the word out as well. It would only lead to more problems down the line and he was taking a strictly 'one thing at a time' approach.

"Where did you find it?"

"Right here in Sunnydale. Where else would they hide something like this than on the Hellmouth?"

Shaking his head, Giles started walking into the office. "I-if that's the case then simply putting it back and reactivating the spells should be enough to stop them from trying to locate it. It had been here for years without anyone finding it so in theory, it should work."

"And if that doesn't work, then I move on to my next plan."

"What exactly would that be?" Giles asked, shrugging on his tweed jacket, holding a leather bag in his hand.

Instead of an answer, Xander grinned slightly, shoving his hands in his coat pockets. Again, there wasn't any need to alarm Giles with what he was willing to do to keep the Bone out of the wrong hands. It was probably safer if he didn't know anyway.

PAGE BREAK

It took only fifteen minutes for them to get started on their way to one of the many cemeteries that littered Sunnydale. They would have left earlier but Giles had to make a call. While Giles might have been proficient enough to do the rites and rituals himself, he felt that having Jenny meet them there to assist would be helpful. If Xander was honest with himself, he would probably assume that it was also so that way he could have backup in case something happened. Xander wasn't exactly trusted by them anymore and he was amazing that Giles hadn't called Buffy instead. Then again, Buffy didn't know how to bless a room let alone the complicated spells that where going to be used tonight.

After coxing Giles car to start they were off. The silence was uncomfortable and the air was heavy between them but neither seemed prepared to make the first move. Hell, Xander was content to stare out the window the whole time and walk off into the night to drink himself silly after this was done. That was of course if everything went down smoothly. If not, then his night was going to be pretty busy.

Ten minutes into the car ride, Giles finally spoke. "You nearly broke them, leaving like you did. I hope you realize that."

"They got over it. Buffy's a big girl, Giles," Xander sighed.

"And Willow? I suppose that you felt that she was more than able to deal with taking off? I understand that you were going through a hard time but of all the selfish things you could do…"

"Selfish? They made it perfectly clear that they couldn't deal with me after everything happened." Xander turned towards Giles. "I know what fear looks like, Giles. I saw it in their eyes once they realized what it is I can do. What I'm capable of."

"They're children, Xander! Of course they're going to be fearful of what they saw you do, of the things you've done," Giles seethed, gripping the wheel tight. "If you had once thought about explaining yourself to them, perhaps apologizing for what happened-"

Snorting, Xander rolled his eyes and turned back to the window. "Yea, I can see how well that would have gone. _'Well, sorry that Kendra died everyone. Hey, who's up for going out to the movies?'_ Yep, that would have worked."

It looked as if Giles was ready to explode but he managed to keep his anger reigned in. It took every ounce of will power the man had not to start yelling but he stayed quiet. Xander knew that Giles had a temper that was as hard as steel and twice as deadly, it was something that he had kept from them but Xander had seen peeks of it here and there. That Ripper persona that dwelled just below the surface waiting to be released. It couldn't be their current business that was making him hold his tongue, they could yell and argue all they wanted as long as they got the rituals done and stopped the incoming demons and destruction. It made him wonder what Giles reasoning for holding back was. If anything, it only made Xander more cautious around him. But that was something that he was used to feeling around people now.

At this point, Xander felt that he owed it to Giles to see what it was he was after. Well, that and he was already too tired to play wait for the other shoe to drop.

"Alright, come on. What is it?"

"What is _what_, exactly?" Giles asked turning a corner.

"Giles, come on. You would have torn into me the moment I stepped into the library but you didn't. You've been holding back since I came to you and the only thing I can gather is that there's something that you're not telling me. What is it? Is it something with Willow? Buffy?"

Before Giles could respond, he had already pulled into a spot next to the cemeteries front gates. Without saying a word, he climbed out of the car and soundly closed the door. Xander sighed and did the same, coming up beside Giles just as he finished getting a small duffel bag out of his trunk. It looked as if Giles was about to say something but was cut off as a set of high beams flicked on and off, which was Jenny signaling. Nodding their heads in recognition, Giles and Xander waited for her to get out and come over.

In his pre-Halloween days, Xander had many fantasies that had included the Wiccan computer teacher. It was hard not to when you were a hormonal teen and one of your teachers looked like she did. However, with years of experience and dealing with women that were sometimes literal Goddesses he was now able to control his brain despite his other wants. She was still as good looking as he remembered but he merely appreciated it and left it as that instead of stealing glances like he would have done before.

Jenny regarded Xander with a thoughtful look as she made her way to the other side of Giles, giving the Watcher a chaste kiss on the cheek in greeting. Inside, Xander was happy to see that if nothing else, Giles had found some happiness, though he kept his face schooled.

"Miss Calendar," Xander said in way of greeting.

"Xander, it's...it's good to see you," she said hesitantly. The awkwardness of the situation making the usually outspoken woman lost for words.

"The sooner we start the sooner we can get this over with," Giles said. Not bothering to look at Xander, Giles led Jenny towards the gates.

Xander followed suite and took the lead after a few moments. He moved a good distance ahead of Giles and Jenny, giving them some small bit of privacy and him some breathing room. He couldn't make out what they were saying but could hear their whispered conversation which no doubt was about him given the harsh tone in Giles voice. Let him get it out of his system, it was better he did it now then when something happened. It was definitely a "when" situation and not an "if". Too many times he had assumed that things would go smoothly and over and over again he had been proven wrong. At this point, it was safest to assume that something was going to happen so he could be ready to deal with it.

Stopping, Xander held up his hand halting Giles and Jenny. He needed to make sure that they got the exact same spot so they could reinstate the spells that he had broken down before. It shouldn't be hard but they had to get the right place in order to do it, at least that's what Giles had said. So, very slowly, Xander began to open up his inner eye. He hadn't marked off the spot after taking the Bone but the residual magic should light up like a flare to him while using his gift. It wasn't pleasant to do so, no matter what the circumstances, but using it right in the middle of the cemetery was even worse. Spirits sprung up before him. Some were trapped in the same repetitive motions that they are doomed to do till the end of time while others he could see howling out in rage and frustration at their situations. All of them equally unaware of each other.

It wasn't only ghost that he could see. They may have been bad and in large numbers but the rest of the world behind the world most people saw was also laid out before him, even with his third eye open to such a small degree. Giant beings walked around blissfully ignorant to what was around them, going about their own private business. Powerful magic's flitted to and fro, sometimes crashing into one and other creating flashes of colors that weren't known to the human race and hurt his head to look at. Countless other things were there for Xander's eyes to see but he focused on the magic that he was looking for, ready to be brought back up and put to use. It was beyond his power to do so, tearing things down was always so much easier than putting them back together.

"There, over by that cluster of bushes," Xander said, pointing in the right direction after shutting down his gift and bringing back up his defenses. It was unnerving to see what he did and if he did it for too long he was sure he would lose his mind, provided he hadn't already.

The three of them moved over to where Xander had pointed. Almost instantly, Giles started preparing for the spell, setting up all the odds and ends that he needed. Luckily, they didn't need to know the specific spell to put it back together. If they worked it right, they magic should just heal itself, closing around the Bone and shrouding it once more.

Jenny stood off to the side watching with mild interest. Xander saw her steal glances at him once in a while and he had to stop himself from smirking. No doubt she had heard something from what had happened and was busy trying to work him out. Like everyone else, she was probably wondering what kind of game he was playing. What childish antics was Xander doing this time? Or maybe she was trying to piece together just how crazy he was because he couldn't possibly be doing all of this if he was sane.

Xander covered the distance between them in three steps coming to stand next to her. "So, how's the world of teaching computers?"

Jenny smirked though both of them caught Giles stiffen slightly. "Can't be more exciting than being a, what is it now? That's right, a private detective."

"It pays the bills...for the most part."

"Pays the bills? What kind of bills does a teenager have?"

"You'd be amazed at the kind of bills a teenager can run up," Xander said with a smirk of his own. His mind suddenly remembering several conversations he-no, not him, John-had with Cathy about that very thing. "But to be honest, I don't think many of them are able to hold their liquor as well as Cathy."

"What was that?" Jenny asked, giving him his full attention. "Who's Cathy?"

Thankful that the darkness hid his slight blush, Xander shook his head. "No one, just someone that I used to know."

"Was it a special someone?" she said playfully.

"What? No!" Xander practically yelled. "Cathy is...No! Just…no!"

"If you're quite finished I'm almost ready here." Giles stood up, wiping his hands on a cloth. "Jenny, if you would?"

Giles and Jenny went about the last minute preparations. When they were ready to begin, Xander placed the Thull Bone in the exact spot he had found it and buried it under a small mound of dirt. It was odd that no one had found before. After all, it wasn't as if it was well hidden physically. But that's why the spells were there. There could have been a big neon sign pointing to its location and no one would have figured it out with the magic over the thing. It was simple but elegant in nature, powerful really. It was probably why he hadn't had a hard time pulling it apart before and hopefully it would also help Giles and Jenny put it back together and hid the Bone again.

It took roughly thirty minutes of chanting, lighting candles and the usual before they got to the focal point of the spell. During the whole time, Xander busied himself with keeping watch and generally being bored. He wouldn't let his mind wander, knowing that he had to be on his guard. Anytime magic was at work on the Hellmouth it seemed to call forth any number of curious things that wanted to take a peek and, if they were so inclined, to throw a monkey wrench into the working. Not only that, but he wanted to be a safe distance away from mystical ground zero. No telling what would happen just because he was to be standing too close. He still didn't trust himself around any kind of working.

Finally, it seemed like they had finished. Giles stood up and helped Jenny to her own feet. "It should be working fine now. Care to take a look and give us your professional opinion?"

Ignoring the sarcasm in the Watchers voice, Xander took a few steps forward and prepared to open his inner eye again. Just before he did, a thought popped in his head. Knowing that it would get on Giles nerve a bit, Xander reached out and took Jenny's hand. The images he saw before came back to life but he made sure to focus only on the spell. There wasn't any reason to scare Jenny too much. The lights that he recognized as being the spell looked as if someone had lit thousands of sparklers of countless colors, some of which weren't meant to be seen by human's eyes and evoked frightening and wonderful emotions in his soul. Giving it a once over, Xander nodded and shut down his gift placing his mental shields up again for the second time that night.

"Everything seems to be in order to me. What do you think?" Xander asked turning to Jenny.

The techno-pagans face was paler then it had been before but there was a smile on her shocked face. Her hand fell limply to her side as Xander let go of it. Stumbling without his small bit of support, Jenny fell into Giles who had come over glaring at him. Xander knew it was a bit mean to do that without warning someone but he had wanted to get a small dig in at Giles not to mention impress Jenny, which by the look on her face, he had done. It was kind of an asshole move of him to do but he didn't dwell on it.

After Jenny found her footing, she looked back at the small mound of dirt that she knew the Bone had been placed in. "That was just…_wow_!"

"Jenny, are you alright?" Giles asked, still holding her up. "Was there really a need for that?"

Shrugging, Xander looked at the older man. "I felt it needed another set of eyes, just to be sure."

Before Giles had a chance to respond, Jenny looked over at Xander almost drunkenly. "What was that? How did you…?"

Flashing what he hoped was a comforting grin, Xander said, "Trade secret. Don't let it fool you though. It's not all pretty colors."

"Are we finished here?" Giles snapped. When Xander nodded, Giles continued. "Good because we need to have a conversation."

Letting no emotion show, Xander nodded again. "What about?"

"My sister."


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Thank you specifically to Aaron W. and Ghostrider for your reviews. To answer a few things, yes, there will be one if not two people popping up from the Nightside later on and with good reason. But that won't happen for a few chapters. Secondly, Xander, as you will also see in upcoming chapters, Xander is starting to lose his mind a bit (And who could blame him really?) Not so much because he might **_**become**_** John but because he might already be like John. Classes start up again so the next update might be longer than a week, but hopefully not. Again, thanks to those that are reading, putting up alerts, and reviewing. **_

Xander, Giles and Jenny had made their way to one of the few diners that stayed open all night. You would think that it was strange to find something like this in a town that had evil running hot and cold but one of the things that Xander had learned was that the regular vampires and demons left well enough alone when it came to certain all night joints. Not only had the owners and workers of these places come to defend them tooth and nail, making it certain that if they went down, whoever came after them wasn't leaving unmarked if at all, but there was also another reason. Everyone needed a place where you could pick up a few things at odd hours in the night and early morning, even demons.

No one had said much of anything since leaving the cemetery. Xander had made sure that the spell was in working order and wasn't overly concerned about anything coming to this town except those that where only drawn by the Hellmouth's energy. He suspected that whatever was on their way here had suddenly realized that they had been lied to and the Thul Bone was somewhere else or promptly gave up on it entirely realizing they had better things to do the second the magic kicked in. Hell, Giles and Jenny probably wouldn't remember exactly where it was and they had hid the damn thing.

The whole ride over, Xander had tried racking his brain for any information on Giles sister that he might know. He hadn't come up with anything, which wasn't much of a surprise. Buffy was the only one who had gotten to know Giles on that deep of an intimate level and only knew a little bit about Giles family but he couldn't remember her mentioning a sister or any other family except his father and Grandmother who were both in the Watchers Council. There was too little information for him to even begin trying to piece together what this was going to be about. He hadn't heard Giles ever bring his sister up before so whatever it was, it probably had to do with what happened on Halloween in some roundabout way. It's the only reason that Giles would even be talking to him about what was bound to be a sensitive subject. That meant that they were talking about something with the Nightside, which wasn't going to be pretty.

Once everyone was seated in a booth, black coffee all around, Xander had completely dropped the slightly goofy personality traits that he had. He was still silly and in fact geekish in his way but it was a lot more subdued, only coming out when he was completely comfortable or putting on an act. The latter being more often than the former since he was rarely comfortable these days. The Nightside had jaded and hardened him more then he would have liked, but that was the way of the world.

"So let's hear it," Xander started, his voice gaining that edge he used when he was working a case.

Reaching into a brief case he had brought in his car, Giles removed a sheet of paper that had been carefully taped back together in a plastic sheet and slid it carefully across the Formica table. Eyeing it warily, Xander picked it up and tried his best to keep his face under control. Never let them see you sweat, that's what John always used to say. The paper, however, was something that Xander had hoped to never see again, though he often did in his nightmares. The artist rendering couldn't possibly do the thing justice, after all it was only in two-dimensions and the artist was far too sane. No one could quite capture the essence of the Lamentation and no one ever should. Out of everything that Xander had witnessed in the Nightside, the Lamentation was one of the worst for him.

"Where did you find this?" Xander asked his voice thick.

"It was faxed to me by a...an acquaintance of mine. Specifically, only after I made mention of the Nightside and dropping the name John Taylor." Giles continued staring at Xander, hoping to see some kind of reaction from him.

Dropping the paper back on the table, Xander shook his head. "Let it go, Rupert. That…_thing_ won't be bothering anyone anymore."

"So I've heard. But still, I need to know. What is it, Xander? What power did it hold? What did it do?"

Xander was ready to jump out of the booth and head for the door till he made the mistake of looking Giles in eye. There was emotion in them, pure and simple rage and pain. Not directed at Xander, but at the subject and it was then that Xander knew. Something had happened with his sister and Xander now knew what it was. But there was nothing that he could offer to help ease the Watchers mind or undo what had happened. In fact, knowing would more than likely only hurt him more than leaving it a mystery. Could he do it, though? Was he able to just walk away and leave Giles in the dark? What about the option? Could he explain to him that his sister had offered herself up, killed herself in the name of the Lamentation in order to escape whatever turmoil she felt? In the end, it wasn't his call to make. Giles was more than old enough to make these decisions for himself. Besides, if he stone walled the man, Giles would only keep searching and end up doing something drastic and end up getting himself killed.

"Let's start from the beginning," Xander said with a sigh. "What are we talking about here? Why do you think this has anything to do with your sister?"

Jenny, who had been sitting close to the librarian showing her support, put her hand over his. It was easy to see that she was aware of what had happened, which would probably make it easier in the long run. If Xander was right in his assumption, Giles would need someone to talk to, to help him through this, after they were done talking.

Taking a steadying breath, Giles began. "I wouldn't be bringing this up if there wasn't a chance…if there weren't a chance that…that Abigail might be alive. My sister, you see, never did fit in with the rest of us. She was them, uh, 'black sheep' as it were. The Giles family has had a hand in the Watchers Council for as long as the family name has been around and we my father was no different.

"Abby was younger than me, nearly twenty years. It came as quite a shock to all of us when my mother announced it. I was going through my rebellious years at that time, getting involved in things…well, anything really. Anything that I thought might be enough to have my father sever ties with me so I wouldn't be forced to become a bloody Watcher."

"Your sister changed something," Xander stated.

Nodding, Giles continued. "When she was born, I knew without a doubt that my father wouldn't hesitate to cut me from the family now. He wasn't a harsh man, mind you. He merely wanted the family to continue on in the tradition. Abby would have suited him just as well as I would have. But when I first saw her, when I looked down at her, at the small girl who had been alive for barely a day, I couldn't let him do that. I couldn't allow him to condemn her to a life of nightmares and monsters, of constant battles and death.

"That day I spoke with my father and we made a deal of sorts, one he was more than happy to accept. I joined the council that very night, enrolling in all the necessary classes and such, and as long as I kept up the family name, Abigail would be spared the horrors that we dealt with. He swore to keep it from her as much as he could and he was as good as his word."

He paused for a moment, apparently lost in a memory that he would have liked to forget. His eyes glassy with unshed tears, Giles entwined his fingers with Jenny's. Xander had almost completely forgotten the woman was there.

"It wasn't until my father passed away that she found out our dark secret. Abby was fourteen when it happened. She was studying at a private school in France of all places." He smiled briefly at this, though it looked as if he was ready to shut down at any moment.

"What happened, Giles?" Xander prodded as gently as he could.

Nodding, Giles went on. "My father had set up for Abby's education funds to be taken directly out of his account, however he had left quite a considerable amount to the Council after his death and Abby was present when the will was read. I had tried to ignore or put off her questions about the Council but it was too hard, they were always there during that time either going through his Watcher's diaries or talking to me about my future in the Council. I was engrossed in my work and she was smart, too damn smart. She started going through his papers, those that the Council didn't claim as their property anyway. Whatever she found in those damn notes…she called me one evening, nearly six months after our father passed. She was frantic, babbling about being able to help, that she had found some way to help end it all. She hung up before I could ask her what she was talking about. It was the last time I ever heard from my sister."

Giles sighed and seemed to age a decade with that one breath. His shoulders slumped and if the now cold coffee wasn't in front of him, Xander was sure we would have fallen forward. Jenny had been watching him the whole time he was telling the story, sympathizing with the man she clearly loved. When it seemed that Giles wasn't going to continue, Jenny turned to Xander.

"It was after Halloween that Giles found some sort of clue as to what might have happened. He was trying to find information about this Nightside place and about the guy who you turned into, John Taylor. One of his contacts had thought Giles was still looking into his sister's disappearance," Jenny explained. "He thought that Giles was in on the secret now and he could be let in on a few things. It turns out that the Council had looked into her disappearance in secret, tracked her down all the way to the Nightside but they wouldn't go any further. Rupert says that they have this sort of 'hands off' policy with it. But this man's brother had went there a few times, drove him nuts too. When he was sane enough to talk again, he kept going on about…whatever that is." Jenny pointed to the piece of paper on the table with an almost sick look to her face. "He drew that and mentioned Abigail's name a few times. Taylors name came up too."

"Seems a bit strange to me, some random guy who happens to end up in the Nightside happens to run into the Lamentation and finds out about Abigail. The Nightside is a big place, so big in fact that it's easy to get lost just walking down the street and the one thing that it doesn't have is coincidences," Xander told them.

"I understand how it sounds, Xander," Giles said, his eyes once again level with his. "The man is insane and not to be trusted but…I have to look into this. I need to know. The only things that I have been able to come up with are a few obscure and random passages that call this…this _thing_ the Lamentation. Some sort of dark God or what have you. The only other thing is that John Taylor has some sort of history with it and that he destroyed it."

Xander remained silent, hoping that Giles would take it as a sign, hell that he would even get fed up and punch him. Anything than make him tell him what he was sure he didn't want to know.

"Xander," Giles said his voice soft, almost desperate, pleading. "I have left you alone out of respect and because I can't possibly begin to understand what it is that's happened to you. Even when you've felt the need to intervene, when you've felt it warranted, I chose to let you be. When the Judge was assembled I saw you across the street from the warehouse. I don't have an explanation why he suddenly fell apart but I do know that you had a hand in it. While I thank you for it, I know that you had a reason for staying in the shadows and I kept that from the others. I need your help, Xander."

He had thought he had been careful that night, staying hidden from view but he was wrong. When Angel had told him about the demon and who it was after, he had dropped everything and went to help. It had been simple enough to break the spell that kept the thing in one piece, making it fall to apart again. Apparently Giles had seen him and didn't tell Buffy or Jenny either, judging by the shocked look on her face. He didn't feel he owed the man for that, in fact after everything he didn't really feel he owed anyone, well, perhaps Angel, but that was a different matter.

"Giles…this isn't something that can be explained easily. The truth isn't pretty and it's not going to clear up anything. I don't know anything about Abigail, John never came across anyone who even had that name. But this thing," he said holding the drawing up again. "This thing isn't some dark God, not in the way they talk about. It was a Power and Domination to be sure, but like most things it was just playing at being a God. This thing haunts my nightmares, Giles. When I go to sleep at night, it's the Lamentation that I check for under my bed.

"John didn't just come into contact with it, he destroyed it. Ripped the magic from it and left it huddled on the floor like so much garbage. It…it preyed on the weak and the down trodden. Not so strange for the Nightside, but this thing was different. It went for those that wanted to end it, to kill themselves. They gave themselves up to it by ending their lives, hoping to get some peace and rest. Instead this thing kept them alive, if you could call it that, for its own sick and twisted wants. It was a creature of suicides and false promises. Giles…if your sister…if Abigail went looking for this thing, then I'm sorry but she's gone"

Dishes clacked in the background. Silverware cut across plates, idle and light hearted conversation carried on all around them but none of it did anything to ease the heavy air that seemed to be pressing in on them from all sides. The information Xander had given them wasn't what they had expected, not that he could even begin to guess _what_ they had expected. He felt sorry for Giles but this was the truth, it's what he was asking for. He may not have wanted to hear it, but it's what he needed. No one wanted the truth, not really. The truth hurt and could break a man but with something like this, what else was there to do?

"I'm sorry, Giles. I really am."

"No. I don't believe it. Abigail…Abby would never do something like that. She was going there for help, don't you see? Perhaps she thought she could get some from this Lamentation but then left when she realized the truth. You have to help me find her. I know you can do it."

"Giles, don't do this," Xander pleaded tiredly.

"No!" Giles yelled, getting to his feet and out of Jenny's grasp. "I know you can do it. You don't think I haven't heard the rumors, that any of us haven't heard them? You've been selling your damn services to demons and the like, not caring what the job was but now you're suddenly hesitant. When you got in over your head you came to me and did I turn you away?"

Xander, already on his feet, slammed his hands on the table with enough force to cause Jenny to jump slightly. "You don't know what you're asking! Even if I could find her it would mean going back there, Giles. Back to the Nightside, back to that insane asylum they call a city. You don't know the first thing about the place, even with all your warnings and damn books. If you did then you wouldn't be so willing to go there to find your sister who's, if she's lucky, been dead for years!"

Xander didn't see the punch coming and reeled back from the hit, losing his balance and falling back into the booth. If it hadn't been Giles who had hit him, Xander would have been on his feet and throwing his own punches but he stopped himself just short of pulling his fist back. Giles was seething and had only stopped from trying to hit him again by Jenny grabbing his shoulders, holding him still.

Neither said a word, merely glared. Everyone in the diner had stopped what they were doing and stared at the two of them waiting for someone to make the next move. The day time citizens of Sunnydale would run at the first sign of anything that even resembled trouble but those who ventured out at night knew the difference between a demonic attack and regular fist fight. No one would try to stop it, not when it was more interesting than any conversation they may be having.

"She's not dead," Giles seethed.

Shaking his head, Xander stormed away banging the door open on his way out. Taking a big breath of the fresh air, he tried to calm himself down. It wasn't doing him any good, but anything short of punching someone a few times really would. He understood Giles anger. He had seen it countless times before. Everyone in the Nightside had experienced loss like the type Giles had. Hell, most of the people in Sunnydale had as well but they just had the luxury of pretending that something else had happened and promptly forgot it. It was one of the things that he despised most about this place. At least back in the Nightside people simply didn't care if you ended up missing or dead. Everybody understood the risk and if they didn't, well, victims of circumstance weren't uncommon in any place you went.

"Xander, wait!" Jenny called to him leaving the diner. He turned to face her, hands stuffed deep into his coats pockets. "Rupert...he was stressed. You have to understand, he's never really believed that his sister was dead. There was never any body and...he spent years looking for her."

"I get. Trust me, I really get it. But the sooner he realizes that she's dead the better off he'll be. If he gets it in his head to go after her, he'll only end up the same as her, or worse."

"I know that," she sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as a wind chilled her. "And...he knows that. This is the only thing he could think to do."

Raising his eyebrow, Xander looked her in the eyes. "No, it isn't. He could give up on it, get over it and move on."

"She isn't dead, Xander," Jenny told him. "Believe me, if she was I would have talked him out of this, tried to get him some help, something!"

"What are you talking about? She disappeared, what, six years ago into the Nightside? I don't think any of you really understand what that place is."

"You told them that people went to the Nightside all the time. You made it through."

Frustrated and angry, Xander grabbed Jenny roughly on her shoulders. "Listen to me! Whatever anyone has told him, whatever anyone has said, it's a lie! And even if she was still alive there's no guarantee that she would be the same person she was back then. The Nightside changes people, Jenny."

Shaking free of his grasp, Jenny straightened herself. She looked angry but her eyes showed a bit of fear. "Like it changed you? Rupert and the others told me what happened after Halloween, what happened with Kendra, but I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that you could do something like that, not knowingly. You helped people, Xander. You saved Buffy several times, countless others as well!"

She took a step back, as the two continued to watch each other. It was true. He remembered what it had been like back then. To him it seemed so long ago but to everyone else only a small amount of time had passed. The Nightside really had changed him and no one would realize it. At one time he would have jumped up and grabbed the nearest weapon ready to charge into wherever the hell Giles had said to go after. He would have liked to say that he was still that guy, but he knew he wasn't. The Nightside did so love to break a hero.

Jenny turned to leave, giving Xander one more look of disgust before doing so. As she reached the door, Xander called out for her to stop. "I'll look into it, as much as I can. But I'm not going there, I won't."

She nodded her head just enough so he could see, but didn't turn around before entering the diner leaving Xander standing alone on the sidewalk. He'd be one of the first to admit that he was a sucker for a lady in distress, another thing he and John had in common. While it wasn't Jenny who was actually looking for help, it had called to that all important male part of his brain that made him do stupid things. Or maybe he was just trying to prove to himself that he wasn't as much of a bastard as he thought he was. Either way, he had his work cut out for him. At the end of it though, he almost hoped that Abigail Giles had been dead for six years and wasn't trapped somewhere in the Nightside.

_**PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK**_

The next night Xander found himself sitting on the couch in Angel's apartment. It was still slightly odd to consider it their apartment, it sounded too permanent. He might have changed his view on the vampire but he didn't want to live with the guy for the rest of his life. The sooner he could get his own place, the better it would be. For now he was grateful to just have a roof over his head that he could count on.

In his hands he held a yellow legal pad as he taped the edge of a pen against the paper. Only a few odd lines of writing littered the page. There was so little information to go on in regards to Abigail's disappearance and too many possibilities. Xander ignored the usual suspects such as being picked off fresh from the underground by any number of things. If that was the case, then this whole thing would be futile. Instead he focused more on some of the usual suspects that may or may not have had gotten their hands on her.

The Lamentation was dead or at least close enough to it. The husband and wife that had made up that horrible thing had no power anymore now that they had been separated. Either way, it was crossed of the list. Abigail wasn't one of its followers, Xander knew that. He couldn't explain it, but he knew it. When John had severed the line of power that the Lamentation had over those that worshiped it, he touched them all in a way. If Abigail was one of them, he would have known it, felt it.

Glancing at the rest of the names, Xander let out a breath and tossed the pad down on the coffee table. This was pointless. There wasn't any way he could actually figure out what happened without going into the Nightside. Something that he couldn't bring himself to do, not if he wanted to keep what little of his sanity he had at the moment. But without actually doing the footwork, what could he do? John had contacts he could call on but they wouldn't do anything for him. Abigail was missing for too long and any leads would be cold anyway. It was all he could do to not throw the pen against the wall in frustration. It was a simple missing person's case, no matter how long it had been, he should be able to find her. Instead he was stuck sitting here and trying to reason it out which was never his strong point. He didn't even have a damn picture of the girl.

Standing, he went into the kitchen alcove, taking a bottle out of the cabinet above the small stove. Staring at the label, his thoughts drifted back to the Nightside. In the back of his head he could hear the screams of the dead and the dying and the laughter of those that reviled in it. His vision tunneled as memories started to flash to the forefront of his mind. The choices that he had made, that John had made. They were the hard choices that no one else could make, no one else would make. That just meant that he had more blood on his hands then he would ever be able to wash off.

It wasn't fair. He didn't ask for this, he didn't want to be like this. It took everything in him to keep it together and the cases he took, the menially little things that he did to keep busy, helped with that. And when there wasn't a case, the drinking helped too. It did little to hold back the anger he was constantly feeling though, the rage that was building up inside of him at the complete lack of understanding from everyone here. Even the demons were too...normal. They didn't know what it was like to have lived through what he'd been through. It would have been funny to think of demons of being too soft it wasn't completely frustrating.

With a snarl, Xander hurled the bottle at the wall with a satisfying crash. He didn't know when he had started breathing heavily but suddenly his chest was heaving and his face was flushed. He watched the liquor splash onto the floor and dribble down the wall, glass laying everywhere.

"Rough night?"

Spinning on his feet, Xander found Angel at the door watching him. If it had been anyone else, Xander would have played it off, maybe got in there face just for the joy of looking for a fight. But Angel understood, so much as anyone could, what he was feeling. He knew the confusion and the guilt over things that were completely out of his control. The vampire dealt with all of it on a daily basis with what Angelus did. His curse made sure of it.

Deflating slightly, Xander looked back at the wall where he smashed the bottle of scotch. "Yeah, sorry about that. Just...frustrated."

"I can see that. Seems to be a lot of that going on." Angel shut the door and walked further into the apartment. "I ran into Giles back at the library, Buffy had to stop by after patrol. He didn't seem to be in the best of moods either, snapped at Buffy more than once. Heard him mutter your name under his breath a few times. Anything you want to talk about?"

Running a hand over his face, Xander sighed. It took only twenty minutes to explain to Angel what had happened between him and Giles. Angel was interested to learn that Giles had a sister, but was concerned about the same things Xander was.

"He's going to end up trying to find his sister if you can't," Angel stated.

Nodding, Xander leaned heavily against the wall. "Giles will ignore everything and run right into the Nightside without knowing anything. He'll get himself killed if not worse."

"And you can't track her down from here."

"That's the long and the short of it. If I went to the Nightside, I'd at least be able to try to pick up some kind vibe on her or at least get some news on what happened to her. Someone knows. There's always someone who knows the truth about something or other there. At least close enough to the truth to get started."

After a few moments, Angel looked up. "The Council. They said that the Watchers Council made an investigation into her disappearance, right? Even if they didn't go after her in the Nightside they might have more information than what we have."

"It's a start. Its better then what I've been able to come up with anyway." Wryly, Xander asked, "And what's this 'we' business?"

Raising an eyebrow questioningly, Angel asked, "You saying you don't want my help on this?"

"Not saying I don't want it, just wondering why. I mean, yeah, you've helped me before but usually there was some kind of disaster going on or something really big was happening."

"It's Giles. Besides, there is the fact that this girl might actually be alive," Angel said not fully convincingly.

"Don't want to see Buffy get hurt if anything happens to Giles, huh?"

"Something like that, yeah."

Pushing off the wall, Xander started to gather up the pad and pen. "Any idea how to get this information or are we going to have to talk with Giles again? I don't think either of us is in the mood to really see each other so soon."

"I got an idea. There's a guy I know who might be able to make contact with someone in the Council." Angel peered into the kitchen and winced at the wall. The scotch had run down it completely and the small apartment had started to reek of the liquor. "Clean that up while I'm gone."

Before Xander could protest, Angel had left the apartment. In his head, he chuckled. He was probably more upset that it had actually been a good bottle then the fact that he had made a mess in the surprisingly neat vampire's home. He wasn't feeling better, not really. But he was headed in a direction now, he was doing something. In the long run, that's all that mattered. Keep busy and move fast enough and the demons couldn't catch up with him, both real figurative ones. Well, no point in dwelling on that now, or ever if he had his way. Clean up the smashed bottle and wait for Angel to get back. It was something at least.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Finally, a little bit of action! Well, that's what I thought when I wrote this part anyway. To comment on what Ghostrider wrote, a darker Xander is definitely going to be seen here. For anyone who has read the Nightside series, you should know that it's hard not to be a darker than what the Buffyverse is generally used to. Again, thanks to those who have reviewed and put up alerts and all that nice stuff. Feel free to keep doing it.

Xander was told that it would take a few days for Angel's contact to get back to him. Hopefully it would be with information that they could use or, at the very least, a general direction in which to go. For the time being, Xander still had the regular things in life to worry about. His last case had gone bust and the money that he would have made off of it would have been real helpful towards his goal of getting his own place. The lawyers may have been evil, soul sucking, amoral bastards, but they had promised to pay him well. Real well. Now that he was working a job for Giles, pro bono as it was, he needed to drum up something that could earn him some money. Best way to do that was to hit the streets and the local haunts, which he had done the previous night. He just had to make sure that he didn't make it seem like he was desperate, even if he was.

So far, Xander had turned up absolutely nothing. All of the places that he would normally be able to pick up some kind of work or at least hear about something that he could use to his financial advantage had been dry. Tonight it seemed as if everyone was taking that night off in fact. Every place he had been too had been somber, quiet and, somewhat filled with fear. It was something that happened every so often, usually when there was something big brewing on the Hellmouth or Buffy was getting particularly hard on the demonic community. Maybe they were just reacting to the Thull Bone calling to them the other night. Maybe there was something coming into town that would cause massive destruction and a high body count. At least that would be interesting for a change.

He almost stopped in the middle of the sidewalk when that thought went through his head. Sure, he was getting restless with Sunnydale and its dull and boring ways. Yes, in comparison to what he was now used to he felt his brain was starting to atrophy slightly but he hadn't ever wished for something to come to this place. Not something that would be bad on the level that the Nightside was used to. Sunnydale wouldn't survive, _couldn't_ survive, if that happened. He didn't want people to be hurt. He wanted to stop the things from hurting those that were helpless. So why in the hell was he wishing for something to walk through the town and lay waste to everything around him just so he could actually do something?

He pushed his hands further into his coat pockets and kept moving. Best not to think about it. Too much else going on without thinking thoughts that would probably lead to answers he didn't want.

Right, one more trip through the warehouse area and he'd call it a night. Maybe he'd run into a few vampires that he could dust and at least grab whatever cash they had on them. He wouldn't have resorted to something as low as hunting vampires for their money but he needed to eat. Besides, one thing that would never change was his feelings on the undead, at least those without a soul.

Xander was barely past the first warehouse when he heard the distinct sounds of a fight. There wasn't enough grunting for it to be some turf war between different groups of vampires or demons. But something was definitely laying a beat down nearby. Cautiously, but without showing any signs of trepidation, Xander started towards where the sounds where coming from. It didn't take long before the fight came into view and he didn't bother hiding his smirk as he leaned against the wall next to him enjoying the scene.

Three vampires were trying their best to surround the would be victim, something that should have been a lot easier then it was. But, the young, blonde girl wasn't the type of prey they were used to. Judging by the two trails of ash and dust on the ground, she had already taken out a couple of them, which should have clued the rest into what they were up against. Then again vampires never were the smartest creatures around. If they where they would have turned tail and ran the moment they faced the Slayer. Just another thing to add to the list of idiotic things demons in this town did.

"Need a hand?" Xander asked casually, surprising all four of the fighters.

They all turned to look at him with two distinctly different reactions. The vampires, upon recognizing him, went wide eyed. They froze trying to determine what was the best course of action. Running would normally result in not being dusted. Then again, Xander had been known to simply want information and was often a bit testy when people tried to keep that information from him.

Buffy, however, just looked angry after the initial shock of seeing him wore off.

"Guys, I have to say, this isn't exactly looking up for you," Xander said. "You would think that you'd be a bit smarter than taking on the Slayer, even with there being three of you. Well, now that there's only three of you. I know that it probably got a bit confusing after she got rid of your friends over there."

"Harris," one of the vampires growled half in anger, half fear.

"Xander," Buffy mimicked in almost the same tone as the vampire though there was no fear in her voice.

Xander gave her a smirk before addressing the vampires. "Listen up, normally I would give you guys a pass here, tell you to scram before I get antsy and do something nasty to you all. But I don't think that the lady is going to be okay with that."

One of the vampires stepped up to him, the stench of filth and decay coming off of him was nearly a physical presence all on its own. He was definitely a newer one, freshly turned and hadn't yet learned that just because he was undead didn't mean that he shouldn't shower. "You think you can take us?"

Xander raised an eyebrow before looking between the newly undead and the ash marks on the floor. He was going to remark that 'he didn't need to take them since they were being taken all on their own' but stayed silent as one of his friends spoke up.

"Bill, back off man." A different one stepped forward, grabbing Bill on the shoulder. "This is Harris. You don't mess with him. You don't know the score yet."

"You scared of this punk? What's wrong with you? Look at him. I smell human blood. Nothing special about him." Bill said shrugging off the hand.

Pushing off the wall, Xander started towards Vampire Bill slowly, hands still in his pockets. He waited till he was right in front of him, giving him a one of his, Johns, patented smiles. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Buffy watching him cautiously. "Billy, I'd listen to your friend over there. This whole thing would go a lot smoother probably. Hell, if you were quick you might be able to run before we catch you. Isn't that right fella's?"

Taking this as their cue, the remaining two vampires turned and ran for all they were worth. Bill was taken back by this, looking behind him to watch as his companions left him to stand alone between the Slayer and Xander, who, as far as he had known, was a regular vanilla human. Bill was too new to everything to know everything that went on in this town. Too bad for Billy.

"Uh oh, Billy. Looks like your friends are all gone," Xander said, his smile growing colder.

If Bill was going to respond, they'd never know. One moment he was there and the next, the tip of a wooden stake poked out of the front of his chest. Bill crumbled into dust right then and there, reveling Buffy behind him. It was quick, something that bothered Xander a little. He wasn't looking for any real trouble tonight, just to make a little money. But now that Bill was nothing but ash on the ground, whatever money he had was gone along with him.

It was hard to miss the anger that flashed across Buffy's eyes. She hadn't dropped the stake either, something that wasn't lost on him. So much had changed between the two of them in such a short amount of time. Not that it could have happened any other way really, but that didn't make it any less difficult.

"What the hell are you doing here, Xander?" Buffy asked.

"Taking a night stroll. You?"

"Don't get smart with me. What is it? Some case bring you down here? Some big score, maybe?" Buffy pressed glaring up at him. "You think that I haven't heard about it? We all have. Kind of hard to miss when someone you know starts working for demons."

"Pays the bills," Xander replied with a shrug.

"So that's it, isn't it?" she said with a shake of her head.

"Yea, I guess it is."

They stared at each other for a moment. It wasn't the way he would have like to run into Buffy, into any of them really. But that was life. One big 'screw you' after the other.

"Well, if we're done here then I'm going to keep moving," Xander said.

Turning, Xander made it a few yards before Buffy called out to him. "You wrecked her, Xander! She can barely hear your name without bursting into tears some days. You don't even care anymore, do you? What happens to me? What happens to Willow? None of it matters to you."

"Is that what you think? Boy, Buff, glad to see that you have that whole moral superiority thing going for you," Xander shot back.

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Anger welled up inside of him. He wanted to lash out at her, make her hurt as badly as he did inside. It wouldn't solve anything but he didn't care. Still, he was smarter than that. At least now he was. Instead he quelled the feelings inside of him and waved her off.

"Nothing. Stay safe on patrol, OK?"

This time she crossed the distance and stopped him from moving, grabbing his forearm in a vice like grip and spun him to face her. "Stop. I haven't seen you in months, no one has. You don't get to just walk away after all that's happened."

"Get your hand off me." Something must have crept into his voice, something in his eyes maybe. Whatever it was caused Buffy to back down for a second, her hand relaxing slightly. She bounced back though and reaffirmed her hold on him.

"No."

"Don't do this, Buffy. Let me go. Now."

She didn't let go, only continued to glare at him. He couldn't over power her, not physically anyway. There were a number of things he could, however, do that required no physical skill whatsoever. Nothing to painful or jarring, just enough to remind her that he wasn't the seventeen year old boy that she knew anymore. The only problem was that he wasn't in the most pleasant of moods at the moment, namely due to her. If he was, maybe he would have been gentler. Maybe he wouldn't have gone for something so drastic. But he was and he did.

Taking a split second to calm his thoughts, he opened up his gift, looking for the thing that gave Buffy her strength, the thing that made her the Slayer. It popped into view right in front of him, flaring up like some kind of a psychedelic Christmas tree. What was strange was that he felt the power going off somewhere, felt it somewhere else in the world. He ignored it for the moment, it wasn't important right now. Instead he reached out and touched the power inside of Buffy, not pulling it away from her, but giving it a slight tug.

Buffy's strength suddenly waned, her grip becoming no better than that of a thin young woman. Her balance left her as well, though if it was caused by her slayer like abilities leaving her or the effect of Xander grabbing hold of her power, he didn't know. It had the desired effect either way. Buffy, letting go of Xander's arm, stumbled back a few steps looking shocked and just a bit frightened. Angry as well, but she was now hesitant to make a move on him again. Xander had released his hold on her power the moment she let him go, closing his inner eye and putting back all of his mental shields. Her strength returned, but it did nothing to make her feel better.

"What did you do?" she whispered harshly.

Gone was the smile he had been wearing, the one without any humor in it. In its place was the hard face and cold eyes that he was more comfortable with wearing these days. It was a face that promised that no good would come of anyone or anything that crossed him. He wasn't happy that he was letting Buffy see him like this. She was once a friend to him, once someone he could trust. That seemed like a lifetime ago. Hell, it _was_ a lifetime ago to him.

It was only his instincts he had gotten from the Nightside that saved Xander's life. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his brain screamed at him to run. He quickly looked behind him, trying to see if there was anything down the street. At first, he almost missed it. It was as if the part of his brain that was still fully Xander wouldn't let himself believe what he was seeing. It told him that he had to be mistaken, that is just wasn't possibly. But the part of his brain that did most of the thinking for him now, the post Nightside brain that worried about possibilities only after it dealt with the reality in front of it, knew the truth.

Standing down the street, half concealed in the shadows, was a slightly humanoid shape. It looked normal enough dressed in a pin stripe suit with matching hat, nothing out of the ordinary until you looked at its arm. They were too long to be normal, and at first glance you would think his hands matched the too long arms until the light of the street lamp hit them. Gleaming metal replaced fingers, the metal of needles dripping some kind of viscous green liquid from them. If the shadows weren't covering it Xander knew that he would have been looking at some faceless creature. Something that hunted and haunted John Taylor for all his life. The Harrowing.

"We need to move. Now." Xander's eyes narrowed as the thing started forward. If it got close enough to strike they would be done for.

Glancing over, Buffy saw the thing as well but like a good little slayer, she was busy sizing him up, thinking she could take whatever it was. "What? You know him?"

"I'm not kidding, Buffy," Xander grabbed onto Buffy's wrist, already moving backwards. "We need to go."

"What is it? What's the big deal with this thing?" She stayed where she was despite Xander's pulling.

"Something bad. Something that shouldn't be here."

The faceless being moved steadily closer. Unhurried in its every movement. Then again, it didn't need to hurry. It was damn near impossible to stop one of these things once they started moving. The only thing you could do was out run them. Escape and hope that you where able to lose them in whatever back ally you could run through. The other alternative, fighting them, wasn't an option. Not for him. Not for Buffy. Gods had stood against them and come out on top, not regular vanilla mortals or even whatever the hell he and Buffy counted as. Not unless there was some serious magic backing them up. But that had only happened once.

Xander wanted to run. He wanted to move as fast as his legs could carry him and not look back till the damn thing was too far behind him to see. It's what he wanted, but it wasn't what he could do. Buffy wasn't moving and no matter what her feelings towards each other at the moment, he wouldn't be able to live with himself leaving her to that thing. He would drag her out of here if need be.

With another tug, he finally got her full attention. "This is from my neck of the woods. It's something from the Nightside."

Maybe she had finally gotten a good look at it. Maybe there was something in his voice. Whatever the case, she finally started moving with him.

Quickly, they made there way down one of the narrow passages between a row of warehouses. His heart was beating wildly. The fear clutching at his chest was making his breathing labored despite the fact that they had been running for barely a minute. When they came out of the ally Xander did a quick glance on either side of him checking for more of the Harrowing. Seeing none, he bolted to the right with Buffy behind him.

The sound of something sharp being racked across metal drew their attention above them. One of the harrowing was above them on the roof of a warehouse scraping its needle like fingers on the top of the corrugated metal roof. In didn't leap down at them so much as fall with an unnatural grace, landing without making a sound. Stopping short, shocked at the things sudden appearance, Xander came within inches of being jabbed with its needles.

With a shove from Buffy, Xander fell off to the side while she attempted to attack the thing. The punch she threw would have broken the neck of a normal human. A vampire would have went down and been too stunned to get up for a while. Even a demon would have thought twice about coming back for a second round. The Harrowing simply absorbed the punch, Buffy's hand sinking into its face and stayed there. When she pulled her hand away there was an awful sucking sound as the creature's face resumed its normal shape. It unnerved her, which wasn't surprising since it still got to Xander every time he saw it.

Looking wildly around him, Xander shoved his gift open again, this time looking for a way out. He had at least a few seconds while Buffy dodged the attacks of the creature. One on one she may be able to survive for a time but soon it's friend would catch up to them and then it would be over. He was pushing himself, never having used his gift as frantically as he was right now. He knew that it was going to hurt later. Better hurting later then dying now, though. For all his trying, he came up with nothing. This was Sunnydale, not the Nightside. While some places in the town may hold hidden secretes, for the most part it was exactly what it portrayed itself as, a sleepy little berg without much to offer.

Fear started to claw its way back into Xander's mind. These things, these awful things were here and after him. His thoughts were beginning to get jumbled as scenarios of what could happen started to play in his head. Quickly he stomped out all of them. He couldn't let himself get worked up to the point of being useless. He had stopped being useless long ago in his mind. If he was going down, it was going to be on his terms and doing something. In this case, though, something was running away and not letting these things touch him or Buffy.

He saw it then. A way out that was dangerous but significantly less so then what he was currently facing. All they had to do was make it past the next two rows of warehouse and across the street. Yea, that should do it.

"Buffy, come on!" Xander yelled to her.

He turned and started running, trusting Buffy to follow him. A second after he took off he heard the pounding of her feet behind him and then next to him. If they could keep this speed up they stood a chance of actually making it. The Harrowing were fast but he had the home field advantage. Those that had sent them after John before knew the Nightside better than most, they knew when and where to strike. Here though, in Sunnydale, it was a different story. Here, Xander knew the twist and turns and his time on the streets, both living and working, had given him an even better understanding of them. He had meant it when he thought about how little Sunnydale had to offer in relation to the Nightside but that didn't mean that it also didn't have its secretes.

Once more he powered up his gift and searched for the opening that he knew was there. The magic's that kept it closed at the moment weren't a match for Xander's ability, especially when he was as desperate as he was. The focal point of the spells that kept everyone out was small but it was there. He could have pulled it apart if he wanted to but that would defeat the purpose. Instead he simply pushed the spell to the side and, grabbing Buffy's hand, ran through an opening that wasn't really there and suddenly they were no longer on the street but in a darkly lit room.

A few months time hadn't changed Racks waiting area too much. It was as dirty and dingy as he remembered it being, but at least the number of magic junkies was fewer this time around. There was only a single brown haired girl slumped over in an armchair. Her hair had fallen in front of her face hiding her features but she couldn't have been older then either himself or Buffy.

The door to Rack's back room banged open and the tall, gaunt warlock stormed into the room. When his eyes fell on Xander, he stopped short. Though he tried to school his reaction, Xander saw uncertainty and worry flash across his eyes, as well as anger, but that was fine. Xander could work with this.

"Rack. Been a bit, huh?" Xander said as calmly as he could while breathing hard from the run.

"Harris." Rack said his name like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "You've been making a name for yourself. Been hearing a lot of interesting things about you."

"People like to talk."

"It wasn't from people."

The door that lead out of the veil of magic hiding Rack's place shook as something banged against. All of them turned to look as plaster dust fell from the doors frame as it continued to rock.

"Yeah, hi. Remember the faceless goons following us? I think they want in," Buffy said while checking the room for something she could use as a weapon.

Rack finally broke from his stunned pose and leaned against the wall, smirking. "You brought something here? Looking for my help?"

"You wish," Xander breathed. "I led that thing here on purpose. You just happened to be the only one in the neighborhood with a half way decent protection spell on your place."

The door kept banging in its frame as the thing outside of it hammered it with unnatural strength. Cracks had begun to form on the wall closest to it. Something had to give way and it seemed that if the door wasn't going to budge, it would tear down the wall instead. It was coming in one way or another.

With a shrug, Rack let his eyes drift over to the girl in the chair and then over to Buffy. "Nothing's free, Harris. Not even for you. I don't care how much you can see. Plus, you bring the Slayer here, to my house. Unless she's a gift, I could take offense."

"Ew!" Buffy said with disgust. "Why am I not surprised that you know someone like this."

"Calm down, Buffy. Rack's going to help us. More importantly, he's going to do it with a smile on his face." Xander stared at the mage hard enough to make his eyes water but neither of them looked away.

"Oh I am? And why, pray tell, am I going to do that?"

"Two reasons. One, the things that are outside about to rip through your concealment spell like a tissue are from the Nightside. They're nasty and strong and damn near invulnerable to attack." Xander took some slight pleasure in seeing the other man stand up taller at this information. Things from the Nightside got that reaction and so much more. "Two, if you do, then I'll owe you one."

Rack eyed the door, watching as it started to buckle under the constant assault. "Deal."

Nodding, Xander looked to the girl in the chair. "Ok, the first thing we need to do is get her-"

Xander never got to finish his sentence as whatever magic was holding the Harrowing at bay final broke down. The door splintered in two pieces, the top part flew inwards missing Buffy by an inch and causing Xander to duck to avoid being hit in the head. They came in, the pair of them, side by side. They shouldn't have been able to make it through the door way like that but then again, they where the Harrowing and this place wasn't exactly stable with the laws of physics. Despite the run and their attack on the place, neither of them looked the bit put out. Even their hats were on straight and there wasn't a wrinkle in either of their suits. That was always something that was a bit unnerving about them.

They didn't waste any time, heading straight for Xander and ready to attack. Luckily, neither did Rack. With a muttered word, he pointed his fist at them then opened it sending out a bluish beam of light. Whatever effect it was supposed to have, it failed. Neither of the Harrowing even slowed down, they merely continued walking calmly towards them.

This time Rack stepped forward and, spreading his hand wide, released a torrent of red lightening the crackled in the air. This time, something actually happened as the lightening slammed into one of their chest, lifting it off the ground and sending it into the wall. Its partner noticed this and abruptly switched targets, making a beeline for Rack. Buffy attacked it with a lamp she had found on table, slamming the thing in the back of the head. For her troubles she received a vicious backhand that sent her tumbling to the ground but luckily the needles didn't cut into her face.

"Come on," Rack muttered all the while moving his hands around in an intricate pattern. Sparks trailed his hands where ever they went making them look like giant sparklers. Xander noticed that the lights weren't fading from his eyes and instead started to become more solid. A second later, Rack stopped twirling his hands and shoved the magical construct towards the closest Harrowing, his face twisted in concentration.

With bands of various colors, the construct began wrapping itself around the creature and stopped it in its tracks. By the look on Rack's face, it was taking a tremendous effort of will to keep the spell going. That would probably be why no one remembered or saw the other of the pair as it made its way behind Rack, slashing his back open with its needles. Crying out in pain, Rack fell to his knees and lost his concentration.

The binding fell apart in an instant and the both members of the Harrowing were free to attack. Free to drug Xander with their poison and take him back to whoever was controlling them now. Rack had been a last ditch effort. Luck was all that had helped Xander find him but that luck had run out. Already Rack seemed to be feeling the effects of the drug and was finding it hard to move. Though he was trying to stand up for all the good it was doing him.

"Any more ideas?" Buffy asked as she got up and stood next to Xander.

"We die horribly and bloodily and pray that's all that happens," he replied deadpan.

Ignoring him, Buffy readied herself to fight. It was pointless, Xander knew, but she would do it anyway. Rack was out of it. Whatever was coming out of the needles had done a number on him and he wasn't going to be of any help. They could run, Xander thought, but for how long and how far. Sooner or later, they weren't going to be able to go anymore and the Harrowing would find them and bring them down. He didn't have any tricks that could help. There wasn't any way out of this. Not for him anyway.

"Buffy," Xander said evenly. "Make a break for it."

"What? I'm not leaving you here!" Buffy responded.

"I mean it. You can't take them."

"You don't know that. We just have to find there weakness. Everything has a weakness," she whispered the last part as if she was trying to convince herself of that fact.

"Not everything."

As the Harrowing stepped forward, Xander and Buffy stepped back. It didn't take long before their backs hit a wall in the small room. It amazed Xander that given everything that was happening at the moment he was surprised to find that besides the lamp that Buffy had grabbed, the rest of them were still upright and working. Usually in a fight in such close quarters you'd expect all the furniture to be toppled over and the lights to be flickering from everyone smashing into them. But this was the real world and not an action movie. Everything other then the door the creatures smashed in was fine, if not dirty. From the oddly polished coffee table to the empty chair the passed out girl had been sitting in.

_'Wait. Where'd the girl go?'_

The crackle of energy was all the warning given as a barrage of red colored lightening encased both faceless beings. Pushing against the bolts of pure magic that held them, the Harrowing struggled to break free. Amazingly it held and neither were able to go anywhere. Trailing the energy back to its source, Xander was bothered by what he saw. It wasn't the fact that it was the young girl who he had thought had been sleeping it off in the armchair that was casting the spell. Even if her long brown hair was whipping around in a whirlwind only she could feel and her eyes were the color of onyx, she was still just a witch, if a powerful one at that. No, it was that there was something about her that was tugging at his memory. He should know this girl, but he couldn't place her. That was until Buffy spoke.

"Amy?!?"

Right, that was it. Amy Madison. The thirty odd years of displacement inside John's head still messed with his memories a bit.

Ignoring the jump start of his recall, Xander was already moving and hurriedly ushering Buffy to go with him. When they got next to Amy, she turned her head to them with an almost dream like quality and smiled. It was kind of creepy though since her lips turned down as well as up at the exact same time, a sort of distortion in time and reality that encased her. OK then, Amy was still doped up on the magic's. It did help explain how she was able to pull off something like this but her concentration wasn't too great and the effects could die off at any moment making the whole thing unreliable.

"Rack, you OK?" Xander asked.

A thump on the floor was followed by a grunt as Rack pulled himself into a sitting position. "Bastard," was all he was able to get out before he started having trouble breathing and couldn't say anymore.

"Alright, we need to get out of here. Back door time," Xander stated nodding to the man on the floor.

"Back...how'd you...?"

"Please," Xander said with a roll of his eyes. "Like you wouldn't have one. Who in their right mind has an operation like this and doesn't have a way out if things get hairy."

Rack glared for a second but he nodded towards the bookcase on the far wall. It was empty but that didn't mean anything. When it came to magic nothing was ever what it seemed. It made it kind of annoying in a way.

"So what? The doors behind the bookcase?" Buffy asked while moving towards it. She tried moving it out of the way but it didn't budge.

"Not behind it, through it. But it won't work without me," Rack said. A grin fell on his lips but with the color draining from his face it made him look less confident and more ghastly.

Xander watched the two beings that had found their way to Sunnydale. They may not have had eyes but Xander could feel the weight of their gaze on him. "Buffy, grab the guy and let's get out of here."

Apparently that was a direction that Buffy wasn't willing to take. "No. I barely have any idea what's going on here and I'm not touching that...that _man_ until I start getting answers."

"How about we get out of here first and then you get answers."

"How about I stand here and watch you try dragging him out of here."

The light from Amy's spell flared brightly then started to flicker. Her hair was more in a cool breeze then a tornado. She was starting to fade.

"Live first, talk later."

Growling out her displeasure, Buffy went to grab Rack's hand but stopped when Xander gripped the warlock's wrist firmly. "If I see even one discharge of magic, one _hint_ that you're taking from her, I'll be very unhappy. I will show my unhappiness in various ways that will be very messy and painful for you. Understand?"

The grin vanished from Rack's face. He nodded tightly, not saying another word. Letting go, Xander let Buffy grab and haul Rack to his feet while supporting his weight.

"Come on, Sunshine," Rack said through the pain of having to stand up even with the help. "Time to get out of this place."

The Harrowing must have known what was coming because the moment Amy dropped the spell they made a move for the four of them. Luckily, they were closer to the bookcase than the creatures were to them and, as one, the stepped through the bookcase and into a sun filled street a few blocks away from the High School. The moment they were clear, a large sucking sound was heard behind them followed by a flash of blinding light.

Turning to Rack for an explanation, the man grinned manically. "The place existed in a pocket dimension. The backdoor triggered a failsafe spell wiping everything that was in there from this plane of existence. A final solution for…uninvited guest."

"And what's up with the sun? It was almost one in the morning when I ran into Xander," Buffy asked.

"Another bit of protection. Jumped us ahead twelve hours when we left. Best way to not get caught is to not be in the same time or place as anyone else." Rack's grin grew wider but his face fell as a coughing fit hit him. Even with Buffy's help the man was barely able to stay on his feet and was shaking from the effort.

Amy, still in a slight daze, drifted over to him and started to inspect his back. "Doesn't look good," she said, her voice coming out hollow, distant, another side effect of the mystical high.

Buffy wasn't comfortable with the idea of Amy being this close to Rack and it seemed as if it was taking a lot of will power on her part to not simply grab the girl and drag her away. It wasn't as if Xander was happy with the situation, but as far as he was concerned it was her own choice. If she wanted to waste her life and sell herself to him for a fix than who was he to judge? He'd seen far worse than Rack's place and his prices were far from steep. Besides, she was probably so strung out at this point that simply dragging her to some place 'safe' would only hurt her more.

"Don't think I won't call in that favor, Harris," Rack coughed. "You owe me."

Grudgingly, Xander had to admit that he was right. There wasn't any way out of it and it would be a cold day in hell, or any other nasty place, before he welshed on a deal. You never know who might really be holding the other end of the bargain if you did. "I know."

"Come on, Sunshine. Time to get this looked at."

Amy moved to Rack's other arm and took over supporting his weight. Once he was settled, the two began walking off down the street and turned the corner. Xander doubted they would be there if he went and looked. The only thing Xander could hope for would be that Rack wouldn't be able to heal whatever the hell those things had done to him and he would die. Of course, his luck never ran that way.

"You're just letting them walk away?" Buffy asked incredulously.

Xander gestured for Buffy to go past him. "You want to go stop him? Be my guest. But chances are Rack's already gone, Amy too. By the way, when the hell did that happen?"

"Amy? I've got no idea. She started missing a lot of school a few days after Halloween. She stopped coming altogether a few weeks later. We still see her around town once in a while. We just figured it was, well, I don't know. Nothing like this though."

"Few people out here ever do think of things like that," Xander muttered.

Buffy's eyes fly wide open. "Crap! It's two in the afternoon? My mom is going to freak!"

"Way to keep perspective there, Buff," Xander chuckled.

"Well I didn't know that any of that was going to happen!"

Buffy almost smiled for a moment before she became rigid and hard. It must have felt too much like old times for her. She couldn't be expected to forgive and forget all because of one near death experience. They happened to her on an almost weekly basis anyway.

"It's over now. I want answers. What were those things?"

Sighing, Xander ran a hand through his hair and settled his white coat. All nervous habits and stalling techniques but he did them all the same.

"How about we do this inside. I'm feeling a bit exposed at the moment. Besides, it'll save you the trouble of telling everyone later and I could do with sitting down for a bit."

Xander didn't bother to give her a chance to respond and started for the school. It only took a moment before Buffy was once again next to him. He could feel her glare on him the whole time they walked and the only reason she didn't say anything was due to the fact that if she started she'd probably end up hitting him. Wisely, Xander also knew to keep his mouth shut.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Gah! Sorry this took so long to post. Classes started up again between that and work, it's been a pain to do much of anything. Also, new fic ideas have been in my head and keeping this one from moving forward. Not much else to say, so hope you guys enjoy. Remember, pass along your comments or else Xander will find you and do something violent and nasty.

It was depressingly easy to walk through the halls of the high school without being noticed. It helped that classes were in session but there were still some students milling about either because they had a free period or were skipping class altogether. Those that saw Xander and Buffy decided not to pay them close attention. If anyone recognized him, they weren't in a hurry to ask him how he'd been. Xander doubted that it had anything to do with any sort of intimidating vibe he may or may not be giving off but more with the famous Sunnydale Syndrome. It was much easier to ignore him then to figure out where he had been or why he was back. That was perfectly fine with him.

Buffy hadn't bothered to let Xander walk through the library doors on his own, or even check to see who was in there. Grabbing onto his elbow, she pulled him along and into the room. Thankfully, no one was there at the moment, at least not in the main area. Even though he had been there only a few nights ago, Xander took a moment to look around in the daylight. He had almost been hoping that he would feel a stab of sadness over the place that he had spent so many days and nights with his friends, their safe haven of sorts, but the only thing he felt was uncomfortable. The air was stale and slightly stuffy with the sunlight streaming in through the high windows. The place was too bright now. Too, dare he say it, cheerful in its own way. He seriously doubted that he would be able to concentrate here for any length of time without getting extremely upset and possibly violent with the first person who started to get on his nerves.

"Giles!" Buffy called out refusing to take her hands off of Xander.

It only took a second before Giles popped his head out of his office. At first he looked confused and slightly relieved when he caught sight of Buffy. That look quickly became one of shock which was instantly replaced with a stony glare when he saw Xander. Stepping out, Giles walked cautiously over to them.

"Xander," the older man greeted his voice monotone.

"Giles," Xander replied.

The two men stared at each other a moment. Giles wanting to see if Xander had given away anything to Buffy, while Xander himself kept his face carefully devoid of any tells. Finally realizing that he wasn't going to find out anything by staring at him, Giles turned to Buffy, asking, "Are you alright?"

"Just peachy," Buffy grumbled. "If you count being attacked by faceless goons, being brought to some creepy warlocks…house, or shop, or whatever the hell it was, and being brought twelve hours into the future, than yeah, I'm fine."

Turning to Xander, Giles narrowed his eyes while keeping his expression passive. "And Xander's presence here can only mean that he got you involved in…whatever it was that kept you last night? We were worried sick. Willow told your mother you were staying at her house for the night, studying. We tried reaching Angel to see if he had heard anything but he wasn't home. We were about to go out searching for you if we hadn't heard from you by tonight."

The words were meant for Buffy but the guilt was directed at Xander. It made him feel bad for his former friend, it really did. He didn't want to cause her or any of them any more grief than he already had but he knew that he wasn't to blame for what happened. Well, maybe he was. But that was only because whoever sent the Harrowing had done so to get him. Not to mention that it had been his idea to hide out in Rack's place. OK, so maybe he was slightly more to blame than he was letting on, but he wouldn't say that. Instead he met Giles stare without blinking.

"Things got hairy for a bit," Xander said with a shrug.

"Hairy? That was a bit more than 'hairy'. What the hell were those things, anyway?" Buffy said. Seeing Xander start to speak, she quickly tightened her grip. "No more stalling. You said once we got here, now spill."

With Giles looking like he wanted to attack him and Buffy squeezing his arm tight enough to bruise him, Xander wanted nothing more than to walk away. Run, was more like it, but walking made it more dignified. If he really tried he could have gotten away but it would have been messy as well as complicated. Technically he was working a case for Giles at the moment, something he would make sure not to let slip unless the Watcher did first. It would be easier to simply talk and leave later on. Besides, there was a part of him that believed that maybe, just maybe, he might be able to begin patching things up between him and Buffy and everyone. Not to the point that they would ever be buddy-buddy again, but maybe better terms than 'Slay on sight'.

Taking his arm from Buffy, a feat only done because she let him, Xander rubbed the tiredness out of his face while he collected his thoughts. Thinking about all of this was tough for him. It meant reliving some moments from John's life that still made his back break out in a cold sweat while laying in bed.

"I don't suppose you have anything a bit stronger than tea, do you?" Xander asked hopefully.

"No," Buffy replied sharply.

Grumbling, Xander took a few steps towards the middle table but didn't sit down. "Their called the Harrowing. At least that's what I've always heard them be called. They're old enemies of John's from the Nightside, something that shouldn't be here."

"What were they though?" Buffy asked. Her voice was still demanding but it had softened just a bit. "I punched one of them and it was like my fist just…just started to get sucked into it. Almost as if it was about to suck all of me in."

"They can't be hurt, not easily anyway. It takes someone with a lot more power than you or me to take these things down. The only time John was ever able to beat them was because they were weakened by Merlin's defenses," Xander said grimly. "Every other time John simply ran or something bigger and meaner got to them first."

"Merlin?" Buffy asked. "_The_ Merlin? Round table Merlin?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't believe the stories. Merlin was…Christ, just forget about him. He's dead now, for good most likely. Then again, you can never really tell with him."

A moment passed before Giles spoke. "Wizards aside, why are they after you? You said that they were gone. Not only that, but they were sent after Taylor."

"And who sent them after him anyway? Cause it's a safe bet that it's probably the same guy," Buffy added.

"Trust me, it's not them. They…they couldn't. They don't even know about me," Xander said. His voice grew softer as he remembered the vision of the future that John had seen. John's friends and enemies alike sending back reanimated corpses imbued with magic back in time to kill John. It wasn't pleasant to think about and if he started to dwell on it to much he was sure that his knees would give out on him from fear. Logically, he knew that those things couldn't touch him anymore. But, that was always the problem with things from the Nightside. Logic need not always apply. Case in point, the Harrowing showing up in Sunnydale.

Shaking his head, Xander said, "Listen, don't worry about it, alright? These things aren't your concern."

"Not my concern? Those things nearly stabbed me last night and God only knows what else those things will do! Don't tell me that it's not my concern, Xander." Buffy was breathing hard, angry at his casual dismissal of her.

"They'll come after me," Xander told her. "They won't go after anyone who isn't with me or getting in their way. The further you are, the safer you'll be."

"And what happens if they come after you when you're out around people, huh? Do you think running away will save anyone from getting hurt then?"

"So I should stay and fight like you did? Cause you were _so_ effective!"

"At least I did more than run away from my problems!"

Tensing, ready for a fight, Xander pushed away from the table. "I don't have time for this. It was stupid to think that anything had changed."

"Things have changed," Buffy said, stepping in to block his path. "You've changed. I don't know _what_ you are, but you're not Xander. The Xander I know wouldn't let innocent people get hurt because he was too scared to fight. He wouldn't be making back ally deals with demons and warlocks or whatever the hell that Rack guy was."

"The Xander you knew grew up," he told her. "Now move."

"No."

Taking another step closer, Xander stood over the blonde. He knew that just because she was tiny, she wasn't going to be intimidated by him. She could still kick his ass six ways from Sunday without breaking a sweat. But, he wasn't planning on fighting her, not physically anyway and not if he didn't have to. "I'm not asking you, Buffy. I meant it when I said that I had things that I had to do. Some of us have jobs. Important ones."

Xander watched Giles tense out of the corner of his eye. Well, tensing more so than he already was. It was what he was hoping for and he knew that he would get away without a scratch on him. It wasn't really that hard to do even. Giles just needed a quick reminder that without him, he wouldn't be able to find out what happened to his sister. It was a cheap shot, Xander admitted, but it was effective and that's all that mattered. The two men knew that the more time he was in the library, the less time he was spending tracking down Abby. The only real problem that Xander had seen would be if Giles thought that the Harrowing were more important than finding Abby. The man was brave and clearly logical when it came to most things, but Xander was willing to bet that when it came to his family, his baby sister, that his logic ran out.

"Buffy," Giles said quietly. "Let him go."

"What?" Buffy asked, snapping her head towards the Watcher.

Clearing his throat, Giles stepped forward placing a hand on his charges shoulder. "Hitting Xander won't solve anything, Buffy. He's made his choice, he knows the danger he's putting the people around him in. But keeping him here won't solve anything."

"You can't be serious!" Buffy exclaimed. "Giles, he knows more than he's saying, you know that!"

"You could say that again," Xander replied softly.

Glaring at the young man, Giles said, "I'm sure that Xander, even after everything that has happened, wouldn't be stupid enough to put people in undo risk unless he had a good reason."

"So we just let him go?" Buffy demanded still not moving.

"You heard the man," Xander said with a smile.

Xander knew that he was risking it by mocking Buffy, but he couldn't help himself. It was a confrontation in his mind and it needed to be done right. Surprisingly, he didn't mind it all that much though. Not as much as he thought he should have. He also didn't care about using Giles emotions to get himself out of Buffy's one track hit-first-ask-later MO. Again, he probably should be bothered by it but he wasn't. If anything, he was bothered by the fact that it didn't bother him, which was getting a tad bit confusing at the moment.

Watching Buffy tense, preparing to most likely punch him, Xander didn't let himself flinch. If she hit him, it would hurt. A lot. But she wouldn't kill him. Luckily, she never got the chance. Giles tightened his grip on her shoulder. It wasn't nearly enough to cause her pain, but it did reaffirm her Watcher's wishes. She didn't unwind, but she didn't stop him when Xander stepped around her.

"I'll let you know if I hear anything," Xander called over his shoulder. It was directed at both of them, different reasons of course.

As Xander was about to push through the doors and leave, he was prepared to compliment himself on getting out of there in one piece. No one had been hurt, not physically anyway, and Buffy had gotten a lesson in the fact that she wasn't always going to get her way and that he wasn't the same person she knew. Of course, congratulating himself was probably the last thing he should have done _before_ he had left.

The door swung towards him, and would have smacked him flat in the face if he hadn't put his foot out to stop it. This, unfortunately for whoever was trying to come in, stopped the door from opening which said person was completely unprepared for. They walked right into the door with enough force to knock them backwards and, if the "oomph" of exhaling air was to be taken as a clue, onto the floor.

Stepping out of the way, Xander grabbed the door with his hand and pulled it open, freezing when he looked down. It didn't matter what changed in him, what he had done and what had been done to him. The person on the floor would always have a way of making him freeze up like a little boy getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar when she gave him a hurt expression. As Willow sat on the floor, her eyes went wide as she realized that it was him and Xander knew that he was screwed.

Instinctually, he offered her his hand and, probably out of reflex, she took it and let him pull her up. She stepped back from him then, her face a mixture of emotions ranging from shock, anger, and, Xander was certain, fear. He let her make the first move, to say first words and set the tone for the confrontation that was sure to happen. Buffy and Giles seemed to share his thoughts and stayed quiet, watching for the time being.

The silence had an almost physical quality to it but no one said anything to break it. Xander made sure keep his face neutral, but not blank. Any kind of emotion he let slip through might be misconstrued and the last thing he wanted was to give her the wrong impression. Not that there was really a right impression at this point, but he'd prefer to avoid doing the wrong thing if he could. The look that Willow was giving him was quickly breaking down his defenses, though. Finally, his face fell and he moved towards her but stopped when he saw Willow step back.

"Willow," Xander breathed. "I-"

His next words were cut off with Willow smacking him across the face. It stung, especially since Xander didn't turn with the slap, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as it could have. Her hands were tiny after all, and Willow wasn't exactly known for her physical strength. She raised her hand and hit him a second time, hurting more this time since it was in the same spot but still, Xander didn't turn from it. He deserved it, more in fact. From her. From Buffy. From everyone. This wasn't the worse that he had endured physically, not by far. But emotionally, it was killing him to see the look in his ex-best friend's eyes.

The two slaps seemed to be all that the young girl could muster. Willow stood there, shaking with anger and raw emotion. Her eyes brimming with tears, her face red and breathing ragged. Xander got the message. She didn't have anything to say to him for him to understand that she wanted nothing to do with now. He wasn't going to stay if they didn't want him, he wouldn't put up with it, not even for Willow. Besides, he could try to deny it but when he was alone at night or when he his back was against the wall, he had become too much like John. He was a monster and monsters belonged with their own kind, something that Willow and Buffy certainly weren't and also couldn't understand.

Stepping around Willow, Xander quickly left the library without a single look behind him.

_**BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK**_

__Storming into the apartment, Xander made his way straight into the kitchen and violently opening up the cabinet over the sink. Grabbing a glass and a bottle of scotch from the next cabinet, he poured a generous amount and quickly drank it down. Without hesitating he poured another glass but instead of downing it, he only took a large sip, spilling some of it down his chin as he coughed on the harsh drink. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, he tried to settle himself. His hands may not have been shaking but his nerves were shot. He hadn't been expecting any of that today, not that he had much of plan besides grabbing some quick cash, but like the rest of his life it just got messed up.

"What the hell was I thinking?" Xander wondered. "What in the hell made me think that I could do this, huh? I don't belong here. I don't know where the hell I belong." Turning to the doorway, Xander looked to Angel who had been standing there since he started slamming the cabinets open, he added, "How the hell did you do it for so long without going insane?"

Folding his arms over his chest, Angel asked, "Do what?"

"Stay here. Stay and pretend that you were anything more than what you really are."

Nodding his head in understanding, Angel sighed. "What happened?"

Clenching his fist around the glass, Xander tried to will all of his frustration into the glass but to do so would only end up with him needed stitches and having shards of glass being removed from his hand. Slamming the glass down on the counter, which was about the best he could do at the moment, he snarled, "Ran into Buffy last night." Raising his eyebrows, Angel remained silent prompting Xander to explain. "I didn't even mean to, God knows I wasn't looking for her. It just…happened."

"Is she…?"

"She's fine," Xander said dismissively. "I've got more pressing matters than any of them at the moment anyway."

"Wait, what?" Angel asked surprised. He had been expecting a rant or at least explosive violence from Xander at the mention of seeing Buffy again, though the plural caused him to wonder who else he had run into. "Xander, this isn't something you should be keeping to yourself. I know that you haven't exactly been sharing a lot since Halloween, but this is different. Trust me, even Giles sister can wait for a moment."

"It's not his sister," Xander told him.

"Fine, than whatever else it is, it can wait, can't it?" Angel asked him.

Looking the in-souled vampire in the eyes, Xander downed the last of the scotch, using it to build up his courage a bit. "The Harrowing paid me a little visit last night when I was with Buffy. We only barely made it away from them."

"The Harrowing? You've mentioned them before, haven't you?" Angel asked trying to place the name.

"Yeah, I have."

As quickly as he could he reminded Angel of exactly who and what the Harrowing were. It didn't take long for him to recall their previous conversation about them, instantly realizing why Xander was so adamant about dealing with this above all else. The stories that Xander had shared before made the Harrowing sound more like a force of nature than actual flesh and blood enemies.

"Worst part is that I've got no clue who sent them," Xander told him when he finished going over the events of last night. "The major players from that future shouldn't even exist anymore, they couldn't have done it. The last time John was there they barely had enough power to send John back. Besides, even if they were still around they couldn't possibly know about me."

"OK, let's try working this out," Angel said furrowing his brow in thought. "Someone or a group of someone's sent the Harrowing after you last night."

"Not just anyone. Whoever did it has to be steeped in power, serious power."

Watching Xander prepare to pour himself another glass, Angel moved over and snatched the bottle from his hand. "You've pissed off enough people and demons in this town that any one of them would be looking for a little pay back but as far as power goes, that narrows down the list. What about the Mayor, could he have done it?"

"He wishes," Xander snorted. "If the Mayor had enough power to send the Harrowing after me then he wouldn't need to make deals with people in the Nightside or with Wolfram and Hart."

Quirking his eyebrow up, Angel said, "That's an idea. You did make that woman who hired you go back empty handed and probably got three of their men killed. From what we've heard of them, they could definitely have that kind of pull."

Glaring at Angel for taking away the scotch, Xander nodded his head. "That's true. Wolfram and Hart could do it, that's for sure, though there are too many holes with that theory."

"Namely, how would they even know about the Harrowing or anything like that," Angel told him. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But the problem is that out of everyone, there the only people with enough power and reach to get it done. Unless you want to start considering anyone from the Nightside but if we start in on that then we won't get anywhere."

"No," Xander replied strongly. "Let's leave that alone for now anyway. I doubt anyone in the Nightside would know about me just like Wolfram and Hart would know about my connection to John."

"Still, they are a pretty good for this," Angel told him.

"So what are you saying? Walk right up to Wolfram and Harts front doors and start asking questions? John may have been able to do that, but that was only because of who he is. Besides, even he'd think twice about it and wouldn't show up unless it was absolutely necessary."

"And this isn't? The Harrowing don't sound like the type to give up."

"They aren't. But for all their power, all their terrible skill, they're still just puppets. Stop the puppeteer and the puppets fall. I just have to keep them off my back for the time being."

"Will it be that easy to keep them away from us?"

Tilting his head to the said, Xander gave Angel a quizzical look. "There's that 'we' stuff again."

"I told you, if things went bad I'm backing you up. The Harrowing showing up in Sunnydale seems pretty damn bad to me. Besides, far as I can tell you're going need me to back your play when you make it let alone keep the Harrowing from taking you beforehand."

He wanted to argue, but the more Xander thought about it, the more it made sense. With some unknown person or persons out to get him, it would be better to have someone along with him. Plus, he knew that Angel was good in a fight and the near immortality that a vampire possessed could come in handy. But things could get dicey, even without the Harrowing. There was still the matter of Abigail Giles to figure out and, despite not wanting to do so he had to get on that.

"Have you found anything out about Giles sister?" Xander said changing the subject suddenly.

Shaking his head, he replied, "Nothing yet but it's only been a few days. I don't know when we'll be able to get the information. Besides, don't you think we should be focusing more on the Harrowing than her?"

Grinning fiercely, Xander said, "Don't worry. I'm sure that they'll find us and try to do something horrible to us."

"You almost seem to be enjoying that."

Turning to the back room, Xander called over his shoulder, "Get whatever you need. We leave at sundown."

BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK

"Oh God, I'm horrible. I'm worse than horrible, I'm scum. I'm worse than scum!"

Buffy frowned as Willow, once again, started crying on her shoulder. The two of them had been sitting on the stairs leading to the stacks since Xander had left and almost the whole time Willow had been a mess. When she wasn't crying she was going on about how she had treated him, how Xander probably hated her at this point. Aside from offering her a little bit of comfort and soothing words, Buffy was at a loss. Even though she may not feel Willow's pain at having treated Xander harshly, in fact she felt he deserved much worse at this point in her opinion, she didn't want to see Willow like this. The young woman was so distraught over the whole situation that she had missed all of her classes, not leaving where she had been sitting the whole time. What angered Buffy about the whole thing was that she was actually thinking that Willow had finally gotten past all that had happened between them and Xander but now it was as if she was back where she had been when he had first left.

Wisely, Giles had chosen not to get involved. It wasn't out of a lack of concern or empathy for Willow, but the man simply wasn't that good with any of the emotional stuff. After helping Willow to the stairs, making her a cup of tea, and offering her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, he excused himself leaving Buffy alone with Willow. He kept to his office keeping the door closed to give them a modicum of privacy while letting them know that he was there should they need him.

"God, what's wrong with me?" Willow moaned through tears.

"Nothing's wrong with you," Buffy said soothingly. "You did nothing wrong."

"Nothing wrong? I-I-I hit him! I didn't even say anything, I just glared at him and then attacked!"

"You were angry. It was only natural that you would blow up at him." Buffy looked into Willow's eyes forcing the young woman to stop for a moment. "Any one of us would have done the same thing. I told you, I almost took his head of myself. It's normal."

Red eyes stared back at Buffy, filled with hurt and remorse. "But...but it shouldn't be, Buffy. H-h-he's been hurt so much, worse than we know. We shouldn't be forcing him away, hurting him worse."

Buffy bit back her initial retort knowing that it would only set Willow off more. "I don't think anything we can do would make him feel better."

"But we made him worse. _I_ made him worse!"

At this exclamation, Willow broke down again. Buffy closed her eyes, wishing that she could do something to calm her friend down, to somehow make it better. But for all of the things that she could do, Buffy wasn't able to do a damn thing. That, above all else, was the most frustrating. If there was just someone she could hit it would make things a whole lot simpler.

Turning when the doors to the library opened, Buffy watched Oz walk in, concern and confusion showing on his usually passive face. He hadn't come in all day and was probably wondering what had happened with Buffy last night and with Willow being missing from class, he had to have been worried. Now that he saw the state Willow was in, whatever his worries were seemed to be confirmed as he made his way to the two girls.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Xander," Buffy told him. The question had been poised to Willow, but she clearly wasn't in any state to answer him.

The young man instantly darkened at the mention of Xander. Oz had never met him aside from the day he had been shot saving Willow but he had certainly heard enough about the Xander. All of it had been slightly skewed since it was everything he had heard had been after the incident with Spike, Kendra and, obviously, Halloween. Willow was always slightly more understanding of what had happened with Xander but Buffy had never shied away from thinking that he could have done more and that it was his own fault things were so bad. Oz seemed to make up his mind based solely on how Willow always reacted whenever he was mentioned. If it hurt Willow than Oz wanted to make it stop doing so. With that in mind, he didn't think too kindly of Xander.

Noticing Oz, Willow instantly let go of Buffy and wrapped her arms around him, though it seemed like she was done crying for the moment.

"Yeah, I heard," Oz said stroking Willows hair.

Standing up to stretch her legs a bit, Buffy ran a hand through her hair. "Great, now we'll have the rumor mill running about."

"Didn't think you'd be concerned with the masses," Oz said over Willow's head with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not. I'm more concerned about when certain people hear about it. The last thing we need to deal with at the moment is Cordelia." Buffy sighed feeling the stress getting to her. She really didn't want to have to take on Cordelia's two hundred questions and comments when it came to Xander.

Nodding his head in agreement, Oz asked, "Why? What else is going on?"

Willow looked at Oz, her face red and blotchy from all the crying. "He's in trouble."

When Oz looked at the two girls questioningly, Buffy said, "There are these..._things_ going after Xander. Real nasty and real serious. I ran into them last night after I bumped into Xander."

"Just Xander?" Oz asked.

Willow may have missed it but Buffy knew that what he was really asking was if they were caring about what was going on. If it was only Xander that was in danger, were they supposed to care? It was hard for Buffy to say at the moment, so she didn't.

Shaking her head, Buffy said, "Could be bad. Xander certainly seems to think so. I didn't even make a dent in them though. And the creep factor on them was way high."

"So what's the plan?"

"The plan? Right, the plan," Buffy said tiredly. She hadn't slept in a while, not that she needed it at the moment, but it would be nice to rest for a bit. "As much as I hate to say it, we need to track down Xander or at least find out where he is. If these things do come back after him they might do it when he's out and around people. They didn't exactly seem too concerned about hurting me when I got in their way and I doubt they'd feel any different when it comes to other people."

"Absolutely not," Giles said from the office door, startling everyone. "I told you before, Buffy, we aren't getting involved in this, not unless we're sure that other people may be in danger."

"You don't think that people are going to get hurt with those things running around after him?" Buffy faced Giles completely feeling the anger rising inside of her again.

Giles didn't back down. "That's _if_ they go back after him. There's no telling why the Harrowing attacked Xander. I-it could have been an isolated incident or simply something that came after him because of something he did or had. We can't say for certain why they came after him. There simply isn't enough information to go running into this."

"These things are evil, Giles. I'm the Slayer, the girl that destroys evil things. Not really seeing a problem with this."

"I've told you, Buffy. Even if these things are going after Xander, they're part of the Nightside. The Council, and on this point I agree with them, do not touch anything having to do with the Nightside, you know that."

Buffy eyed Giles and resisted the urge to blow up at him. He was being very adamant about not going after Xander and it was beginning to make her suspicious. Of what, she didn't know, just generally wary. Normally when Giles didn't think she should do something, he would make his reasons known calmly or at least tell her that there was a better way to do what she wanted. This time he just seemed to be telling her that he didn't want her to do it and when she argued he tried to bring in his authority as her Watcher, something he hadn't done since they had first meant. It hadn't worked then, which he had quickly learned, and had thus stopped trying and instead used reason or, at rare times, emotion with her.

Butting heads with him now wouldn't get them anywhere though except into a knock down drag out argument. The only thing that would do would waste time which if they wanted to find Xander before nightfall, they couldn't afford. Calming herself down, Buffy gave Giles a hard look.

"So what do you think we should do? Wait till bodies start piling up?" Buffy asked.

"I never said that," Giles told her. "If people start getting hurt, by all means I think we should intervene. But for the time being its best that we leave Xander be, especially after the confrontation that took place earlier. The last thing that we need at the moment is to force a fight between ourselves and Xander."

"So we sit around and wait?"

"No, not at all," Giles said thoughtfully. "Patrol, keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary and report back to me. But, Buffy, I'm serious about this. Under no circumstances do I want you, any of you, to go in search of Xander for the time being. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Buffy replied with a tight forced smile.

Buffy packed up her bag while Oz helped Willow grab her own books. The three teenagers left the library remaining silent until they were well into the hall and moving with the throng of other students.

"So, patrol?" Oz asked.

"Definitely," Buffy responded.

"What about Xander?" Willow asked.

"We patrol, just like Giles said," Buffy told her. "I'm just thinking that it might be a good idea to expand the route a little bit."

"Maybe start earlier too?" Willow asked her eyes still red and puffy from crying.

Giving her a comforting smile, Buffy nodded her head in agreement. "Alright, here's the plan. Go home, get changed and rest up for a bit. Can you guys meet me at my house in about two hours?"

"Shouldn't be a problem," Oz said looking to Willow for confirmation.

"Yeah," Willow said looking a little bit brighter. "I should get cleaned up. Being all blotchy probably wouldn't be good for looking intimidating, huh?"

"I don't know. I think blotchy looks cute." Oz tried trying to reassure her.

Smiling, she said, "Thanks. You're lying, but thanks."

"Two hours," Buffy reminded them.

Letting the Willow and Oz go off on their own, Buffy started for her locker to put away her books and grab whatever she would need from it. She needed some time to get her own head straight and check in with her mom, make sure she really believed Willow's story about the all night study session. After that though, she would make sure that they found out not only where Xander was, but what was going on. There was more to what had happened last night than she knew and Giles arguing with her and letting Xander go was really bugging her. Hopefully she would get at least some answers tonight and without too much trouble. As she closed her locker with a dull clang, part of her really doubted it.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Bah, falling behind on this thing due to work and classes. Thanks to Aaron W. and Orchamus for your continued support and input. This is where Xander starts to become a bit further from the Xander that everyone knows and more into the hard bastard that he's been keeping inside. Not much more to say than that. Oh, but if anyone would like to take a gander at "Xander and the Magical Ascension" by MrKlortho. Don't judge it by the first chapter, it's written like a dream (and in my opinion, bad fanfiction, sorry if that offends) but after that it's much better. Enough from me, now I'm on to get the next chapter finished. Author away!

After an hour or so of fitful sleep, getting something in his stomach that was more than just liquor, and a decent shower, Xander was almost feeling as if he was human. The sun had set a few minutes ago and he didn't want to waste any of the darkness if at all possible. With Angel coming along it was the safest way to move around unless they wanted to hit the sewers and even though almost everywhere in town was accessible by them, they still felt too limiting and he wanted to move about as freely as possible. Besides, waiting for sunset had given him time to get his head together and work up some kind of a game plan.

In fact, the time spent thinking and working out his next step was filling him with something he hadn't experienced in a while. He couldn't put a name to it, not really. It was a mixture of nervous and excited energy, adrenalin and fear. It was as if going out there tonight, knowing what he had to do, knowing what he was aiming for, had lifted him out of his funk. It may only be for a short time, but he'd take it.

True, it could also be that the events earlier in the day with Buffy and Willow had also freed him in a way. A secret corner of his mind had hoped that if he could somehow get them to see what had happened with him, to understand and be there for him, that he would be different, better. But now he knew. He couldn't go back there, not how he was. But more importantly, he didn't think he even wanted to anymore. He no longer fit in with them, in their world, and the slap from Willow only served to accent that feeling. It made him give up that false hope of returning to the fold and instead was allowing him to let free the darker and more frightening parts of his personality.

It wasn't as if he was going to suddenly start walking around and beating on people for no good reason, he wasn't an idiot or a sociopath. But the parts of him that had been changed by his time in the Nightside, those aspects of his personality that he had suppressed back before Halloween even, he could finally stop hiding them. He was changed but now he was going to stop pretending that he could change back. It was this attitude that probably showed through when he left the back room to get Angel that caused the vampire to study him for a moment.

Xander didn't say anything as Angel took in his attire. Black slacks and the dark grey button down shirt made him feel a bit more authentic in his role, but it was more than just the clothes. He normally wore these when out on a case or something similar but this time as he was getting dressed, each movement seemed to be done with a reason, with determination. Whatever the change was in him, Angel could tell. He gave him a critical eye before nodding.

"I'm ready whenever you are," Angel told him.

"Good, but a few ground rules before we go out," Xander said. "First, this is my case and I run it my way. I don't mind the back-up but I call the shots, got it?"

Raising an eyebrow, Angel replied, "I'm coming along to make sure you have someone watching your back, I'm not going to be your sidekick."

"And I'm not asking you to be. All I'm saying that is if something's happening that you don't like and I'm ignoring it, there's a reason. Unless it's something that's going to harm us I don't care. I'm not going out there tonight to save the world, Angel. I'm just trying to see about one lost girl who probable's long dead."

Angel looked at Xander, hard. He wasn't trying to stare him down, but there was a battle of wills in it. Angel understood what Xander was telling him, but he didn't like it. After a beat, he relented. "Fine, but if something's off, really off about what's going on, I can't look the other way."

"You'd be amazed at what you can ignore when you put your mind to it."

Grabbing his white trench coat off the couch, Xander slipped it on and checked the pockets to make sure everything was where it should be. A few of the more unique items had run out long ago and he was wondering about getting new ones, but the few things that he normally used if it came down to a fight were there and he had his wits about him, which was all he really needed, though sometimes those wits got him into more trouble then out of it.

"If everything goes right, than the furthest we should have to travel is L.A., maybe Vegas if things get desperate enough," Xander said heading for the door. "But I'm hoping we can just stay local."

"I thought you said no one you knew here had any contact with the Nightside? How can they help track down Abigail?" Angel asked following him out into the basement hallway, locking the door on the way.

"They don't and they can't which is why we aren't going to anyone that I know. You said you knew a guy that had information on the Watcher's Council, someone who could get us their records."

"Yeah, but he's working on it. It takes time to get that kind of stuff."

Snorting, Xander said, "Between fax machines, emails and psychic telegraphers, it shouldn't have taken him more than a few hours to get what he told you. I wasn't pushing it before because I wanted to see how it played out, but I'm tired of waiting. This guy of yours is stalling. Either that or someone is stalling on him. Honestly, I don't care which but I plan on getting what I need from him."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Angel asked though from the tone of voice, it was safe to assume that he had some idea.

Smiling darkly, Xander replied, "Oh, you know, the usual. Ask politely, play nice."

The two stopped at Angel's car and got in, Angel taking the wheel. As he started it up, Xander turned to him, asking, "You still have the tire iron in the trunk, right?"

_**BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK**_

The ride wasn't that long, not that driving anywhere in Sunnydale took that much time, but it would have been easy to walk it if need be. He was used to walking and found no problem with it but Xander wanted the car around in case they needed to make a quick getaway. Not to mention that a car also made things a lot easier if they needed to go further than just inside of the town, which while he didn't think would be necessary just yet, he was unsure enough to want it there if needed. Also, there's something slightly fitting about riding down a deserted street by the docks in a muscle car, something that set the mood.

Angel pulled up to one of the piers and killed the engine. There was a single boat tied to the long pier. It was larger than a speed boat but beyond that, Xander had no idea what kind of boat it was. He couldn't tell from this far away but it looked like it was closed off from the environment so there was a cabin onboard. The lights on probably meant that someone was home, though how they stayed safe with the night life around here, he had no idea.

"Who is this guy again?" Xander asked getting out of the car. He waited for Angel to do the same before starting down the pier.

"He's a Genera demon, been in Sunnydale almost as long as anyone can remember. Has a knack for getting things for people, information mostly. Kind of like you," Angel told him giving him a significant look.

Snorting, Xander said, "I would certainly say he would. Genera demons have an ability to see connections. They can tell what links one thing to another. It's what makes them so good at getting information and other things. If they apply themselves they could figure out who to contact to get exactly what they need, though it's not something they do that often. It's kind of neat, actually. So, what's this Genera's name?"

"Steve," Angel replied deadpan.

Looking at Angel sideways, Xander shook his head. Who was he to comment on a name like Steve? After all, John hung out with people named Razor Eddie, Shotgun Suzie, and Dead Boy. Still, it was hard not to comment on the severe lack of self respect that demons in Sunnydale had and the name Steve was just another example of it.

"Anything else I should be aware of with Steve?" Xander asked slightly amused.

"Don't let the name fool you," Angel told him. "Steve remains pretty much neutral when it comes to anything that goes on in town, that's why he lives out here on the outskirts. Besides, if he was weak and powerless, do you really think he'd be this exposed?"

"Good point," Xander mused. He knew a lot of things that seemed harmless in the Nightside usually ended up being more than capable of destroying anything that came after them in painful and interesting ways. Nothing survived for long in a hostile environment without a damn good reason or serious protection and Sunnydale was no different. "So, Steve's got some power behind him, got it."

"Not just power, he has respect. He's one of the better kept secrets in this town, only a few people know that he's here and those that do don't want to make an enemy of him if only because they might need his services one day."

Nodding in understanding, Xander said, "I can respect that. Now, let's see what's been keeping Steve, shall we?"

There was no one on the deck of the boat but the sound of a radio could be heard in the background, the heavy bass of a jazz band playing could just be made out over the noise of the waves lapping against the side of the boat. No one tried to stop the two of them as they climbed aboard. There was a small window on the door leading to the cabin but it only reflected their image or Xander's at least. A two way mirror no doubt had been set into the frame allowing whoever was on the other side to watch them without being seen. Xander gave the window a small wave and a smirk.

A few seconds later, the door opened several inches. Taking it as an invitation, Xander and Angel stepped forward, opening the door all the way and going inside. It was hard to miss the demon sitting at the tiny desk in the back of the small, cramped room. He was tall, taller than either Angel or Xander even while sitting which made the brown suit he wore look cheaper than it normally would since it didn't completely fit. With the suspenders, rimless glasses and cigarette dangling out of his mouth, Steve looked less like a demon and more like an underpaid accountant. Provided you ignored the red scales and ram horns that curled down the side of his face of course.

When Steve spoke his voice had a distinct Oxford accent that was easily distinguished through his gravelly speech. "Angel, I'm surprised to see you here. I thought I said that I would contact you when I had the information you were looking for, hm?" Glancing over at Xander, he raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his chair. "Then again, I suppose this isn't about that, is it?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Steve," Xander told him taking a step forward. "Word is that you're a man who knows how to get information."

Chuckling, Steve replied, "There is, or should I say there _was_ a small market for my services that I filled. From one professional to another, I must say that you have made quite the name for yourself in a short amount of time."

Smiling, Xander stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Well, from one professional to another, you'll understand why I'm getting straight to the point. You've been holding out on Angel, I want to know why."

"Holding out on him?" Steve asked with a raised eyebrow. "The information he's asked for is extremely delicate. It takes time to go through the right channels, to work through any difficulties. Surely you can understand that."

"Bullshit," Xander snapped. "Let's say for a moment that you aren't a Genera demon, you're known for getting things in a timely fashion from organizations and things that are more hardcore than the Watchers Council yet for some reason you're taking your sweet ass time on this."

Growing annoyed, Steve growled. "You're insulting my work? I can tell you that I have always done my very best for those who have used my services." Turning to Angel, he said, "You bring this man here, after we've already made a deal? If I had known you were going to insult me like this I would have charged you extra."

"Hey, big guy, we're talking," Xander told him before Angel could respond. "You're a Genera demon. You don't _need_ to work through channels. You know exactly who you have to talk to and exactly what to do to get what you want. So, do yourself a favor and tell me what I want to know before I find new and distressing ways to ask the same question."

Standing up and stepping around the desk, Steve stood in front of Xander though he had to hunch over to not go crashing through the cabins roof. "Now you listen here. I want you off my boat this instant! I don't care what they say about you, either one of you! I will not be bullied just because you can't wait for the information. You can forget it now!"

Glancing over to Angel, Xander raised an eyebrow as if to say 'I tried it the easy way'. It was a lie of course, he could have done this a lot smoother but screw it. He was tired of playing things soft. Two small steps bridged the distance between Xander and Steve. Before the demon could react, Xander delivered a swift, hard kick right between his legs. Steve's knees instantly buckled, his eyes watering from the pain. Xander didn't give him a moment to recover. Grabbing the tie, he pulled it down hard and to the side slamming Steve's face painfully into the desk. When Xander let go of him, Steve slumped to the floor.

With Steve lying on the floor in pain, Xander kicked him hard in the ribs, twice, before rolling him onto his back with a nudge of his foot. "Who told you to back off, Steve? Trust me, whoever it was isn't nearly as scary as I am."

"Why do you think I would tell you?" Steve coughed. Green blood started to stain his lips and sharp teeth. His glasses lay broken on the floor off to the side making his eyes glow brighter with that unnatural yellow most Genera demons had. "You think they won't kill me?"

"Steve, Steve, Steve," Xander said in a disappointed voice. "Who said anything about killing you?"

"Xander," Angel said trying to get his attention.

Ignoring him, Xander continued. "If I kill you than how do I get my answers? Do you know who I am, Steve? What I can do?"

"Xander," Angel said his voice much more urgent.

"I'm Xander fucking Harris, Steve. I've seen things that you couldn't even begin to understand, done things that would have you hiding in a cave till the end of time praying that I don't come looking for you. Unfortunately for you, I'm not in the mood to negotiate. So tell me, who was it?"

"_Xander!_"

"_What_?" he snapped turning to Angel.

"Company. Thought you might like to know," Angel said sarcastically.

True enough, three vampires stood just outside the doorway all growling menacingly. They glared at Angel waiting for him to make a move so they could rush him. It was like watching pack animals circle a lone prey. No one wanted to make the first move and with vampires, standing still was an art form. He was pretty sure that aside from calling out to him, Angel hadn't moved a muscle.

"When I get back, I expect an answer, got it?" Xander told Steve before turning fully to face the vampires blocking the way out.

Grinning nastily at them, Xander stood next to Angel. "Evening, boy's. Shop's closed for the moment."

"Funny, that's why we came," the leader of the group said. It was hard to tell since all three of them were dressed up in the same cheap brown suites as Steve the Genera demon, but this one seemed to have the fanciest tie and stood in front of the other two. "You don't touch Mr. Steve."

Still grinning, Xander said, "You work for Stevie over there, huh? A little bit of muscle, is that it?"

"Something like that." The lead vampire tried to match Xander's grin but dropped it when he found that it wasn't working, switching to a glare. "You've been manhandling the boss. That's a big problem."

"Hear that, Angel? It's a problem to beat up on the boss back there," Xander said playfully.

"Yeah, I heard," Angel replied though much less sure. "Anything in the way of a plan?"

Thinking for a moment, Xander shoved his hands into his coat pockets, gripping a stake in one of them. "We could always ask them to leave, see if they have any sense between the three of them."

"I don't think they look too big on the idea of just walking away to leave their boss with us," Angel said moving as the two follower vamps shifted. It was hard to know if they were trying to figure out a way for all three of them to rush the door at once and somehow get inside together or what, but it was best not to be caught wondering.

Xander held firmly onto the small piece of sharpened wood, readying to make his move. "Oh, I don't know, they might have some smarts. After all, they did manage to get work guarding this sorry excuse for a demon, right?" Fixing the vampires with a stare, Xander smile grew colder. "What do you guys say? I don't mind letting you three walk away from here, tail between your legs."

The vampires growled in response while Angel tensed and glared at Xander. He knew that he was antagonizing them calling them cowards, idiotic ones at that. They wouldn't back down, not now anyway. They might have known who Angel was but none of the three knew who Xander was so they had no reason to be wary when it came to him. It was fine, he kind of expected it. Sunnydale may not have been big but he hadn't been operating very long so it was easy to understand that not everyone would know him. Besides, he liked this. He wanted to fight or at the very least frighten them. They may not know his name but by the time he was done they would.

As one, the three started to walk inside but stopped when Xander took both hands out of his coat, leaving the stake in his pocket. "Last chance, boys. No one here will blame you. But you take one step through that door and you'll be dust."

Something in his voice gave them pause. They may not have known who he was, but everything in his stance told them that he wasn't prey. He wasn't some cowering little blood bag that was going to go down easy. The stare Xander was sending them might have also had something to do with it. The devil may care look he had with the cold, almost manic, smile. But, in the end they were vampires and, by all accounts, he was human. Maybe a slightly psychotic looking human but clearly not anyone to be concerned about. The leader shook off his second thoughts and bared his fangs heading right inside and straight for Xander.

At least, that's what he tried to do anyway. True to his word, the moment the brown suit vampire number one took a step inside the boats cabin, Xander snapped his fingers and the vamp exploded into dust making the remaining vampires, including Angel, to jump back in surprise. It had been simple, really. A slight variation on the trick that John and he used to take the bullets out of guns. All he had to do was move the stake that had been in his pocket that he had handled to get a feel for it in his mind, to the center of the vampires heart. It was a bit harder to do since the guy was moving and he never would have attempted it if he wasn't so angry, but he could do it. Plus, the effect was perfect, even if the snapping fingers were more for show than anything else.

As the dust settled, brown suit vamp two and three stared wide eyed between were there leader had been and Xander. Fixing them with another cold smile, he said, "Any other takers?"

As predicted, the two ran from the boat without a second glance. No doubt to tell the tale about the kid who could dust vampires just by thinking about it. They didn't know about the stake, of course but Xander wasn't about to let them know.

After watching them run off into the night, Xander nodded to Angel, who kept his face neutral thankfully, and the two turned back to Steve who was looking at Xander curiously. "Now, I'm going to ask one more time, nicely, before I do something similar to you. Only this time, I might start with your feet and work my way up," Xander threatened.

"I'd listen if I were you, Steve," Angel told him sounding almost sympathetic. "Once he gets started, it's hard to get him to stop."

For a moment, Steve looked as if he was going to argue again. Then he looked between Angel and Xander, saw their eyes, and sagged a bit while still lying on the floor. "Things used to be so much simpler back in the old days," he said wistfully. "Now, there's too much politics with secret dealing and black market trading."

Reaching around on the desk for a moment which he could still see the top of while on the floor, Steve took a folder off of it and handed it to Angel who immediately looked through it, folded it, and put it in his inside coat pocket. "He was, after all, my client, Mr. Harris," he said by way of explanation. "You'll find what you were looking for in there. It isn't much, but it was all I could get. There are, after all, limits to even my power.

"As for who stopped me from contacting you right away with it, well, lest just say that there are more than just a few beings out there that aren't too pleased with what you're looking into."

"Give me a name," Xander demanded.

"Thana," Steve breathed heavily. "Her name was Thana."

Angel gave Xander a look but decided against saying anything when Xander shook his head lightly. Turning instead to Steve, Angel asked, "How did Thana get in touch with you? Why doesn't she want us looking into Abigail?" When he didn't answer, Angel lifted him off the floor, slamming him into the wall.

Moaning in pain, the demon gasped out, "She didn't tell me! She just said...she said that I had to keep you from her, that you mustn't be allowed to find her, not yet!"

A swift punch to the demon's stomach elicited another groan as well as a hacking cough. "Why?"

"I don't know!" the demon cried out. "I don't know!"

Xander stepped next to Angel, leaning into Steve's face. "Thana. Who is she? Demon, mystic, some kind of dark goddess or something like that?"

"I don't know! She never said, she showed right after you left with a few minions, paid me and threatened me not to say anything. She wasn't human, that much I know."

With a silent agreement between the two, Angel let go of Steve with one final shove and the two walked out of the cabin. Neither said a word till they were back by Angel's car, well away from the boat.

Leaning against the trunk, Xander frowned slightly. Things weren't adding up. He had assumed that Abigail was dead, after all, how in the hell could she still be alive if she had made it all the way to the Nightside. It happened, but the chances of her making it and John not knowing even the tiniest bit about her seemed strange. Now, not only did it seem like she was alive but people were actively trying to keep her hidden. If it was from him, Angel or just anybody, he didn't know and that made it all the fishier. At the top of the _'What the Hell?_' list was this Thana woman. Who the hell was she and what was her involvement with Abigail?

He made all of these thoughts known to Angel who was oddly quiet on the subject. Not that Angel was much of chatter box, though he spoke more than some people realized when he was relaxed enough. Now, though, the ensouled vampire was silent, lost in his own thoughts. Xander knew that Angel had no problem getting rough when the situation called for it, the guy could crack skulls and bust ribs with the best of them in fact. But there was a part of him that hated it. Well, more like he hated that he enjoyed it so much. The demon inside Angel loved the fight, the kill, and urged him on every time he fought. Angel had decades of handling it, of keeping the demon at bay, but it still took him a few moments to collect himself.

"Anything about that strike you as odd?" Angel asked him still not taking his eyes off the boat.

Frowning, Xander replied, "Seemed almost a bit too easy."

"Steve wasn't the type to dirty his own hands but everyone knew that he had protection. The way I heard it, he had a lot of people willing to watch over him as part of their payment. Not only that but he had someone with a lot of power backing. But when we show up he has three vampires guarding him?"

"Two of whom seemed all the more happy to turn tail and run when things started getting nasty," Xander added.

Pausing for a moment, Angel looked over at Xander, curiously. "Did you really turn him into dust just by snapping your fingers?"

Grinning, Xander held out his hand, saying nothing. Once Angel was sure that he wasn't going to budge, he rolled his eyes and handed over the folder, mumbling something under his breath the whole time. Trying not to snicker, since doing so was completely unprofessional, Xander started leafing through the papers.

There wasn't much there to begin with and what was there didn't make a whole lot of sense. One page was line after line of addresses, which could be anything from past locations to an address book of contacts. Since there were no titles on any of the pages, it was impossible to tell. The next few pages had a bit more information. They detailed the same story that Giles had told him about his sister's disappearance, though this time it was from an outsider's perspective, probably written by another Watcher judging by the tone. He skimmed the pages, noting a few more bits here and there that Giles had either left out or didn't know himself. All in all, there was nothing new. When he got to the end, however, there was a note written in large cursive letters. **'NIGHTSIDE. LOST CAUSE.'**

"Well, that's kind of hitting the nail on the head," Xander muttered.

When he was done with each page, Xander passed them along to Angel. A fresh set of eyes never hurt. Plus it beat trying to explain it all when he was done. Most of the other papers were of random bits of information that meant nothing at the moments. Names and dates with notes next to them. All of it was worthless without knowing what they were referring to. Like the addresses, there was no point of reference to work off of. Getting rather frustrated, Xander realized he had reached the last type written page and resisted the urge to throw the file away. There was nothing in there that was useful, nothing that they could use.

"This is useless," Xander growled. "Nothing in this is worth anything. It's all gibberish, nonsense."

"I wouldn't call it that," Angel said holding up one of the sheets with address on it. "The last address on here is for a place right here in town."

"How'd you find that so fast?"

"Because I read," Angel replied annoyed.

Chuckling despite himself, Xander looked back at the boat. "Too many coincidences with all this, don't you think?"

Angel doesn't say anything but nodded his head in agreement. Without any more words the two get into the car and drive away from the docks. The address Angel found would take a little over ten minutes to get to giving them some time to try to think things through, not that there was much more to go on than before.

Resisting the urge to slam his head against the dashboard, Xander sighed in frustration. The night had only just begun and his head was already beginning to hurt. Hopefully by the end of tonight, he'd be able to share that feeling with someone else.

_**BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK**_

Walking down the pier, Buffy made sure to constantly keep an eye out for anything that might be lurking. Willow and Oz were behind her keeping watch in case anything came at them, but they weren't much in the way of back-up. They could take on the lone vampire, maybe even stake it, but mostly they helped distract whatever they were fighting till Buffy could get to it. They worked well together, better than most regular people would against demons and she did like that they were with her but she really wish she could have gotten Angel to come along with them. When they had stopped by his apartment earlier he was already gone, something that struck Buffy as odd but not completely abnormal.

The three of them had tried Willie's place but they didn't get any information. It had been happening more and more since Halloween. Willie would still offer the occasional tip on pretty much anything, but when it came to Xander the guy would clam up. Even the demons that frequented the place now in days would stay silent on anything Xander related except to say that, she could do whatever they wanted to them but they still would talk. Whatever Xander would do, would be worse. It seemed as if Xander didn't inspire respect among the demons, which would be bad, but it was fear, which seemed worse in a way.

It had taken visiting one of more unsavory places in town before they got anything useful. The Fish Tank, while dangerous, was only visited by a few demons who could take human form. They got more than a few looks when they had walked in, especially Willow with her nervous body language, but after a few well placed glares and being waved down by one of the demons, they were left alone. The thing, whatever it was, was so nervous about Buffy being there that he offered up whatever he knew, which wasn't much. Some other kind of demon had put the word out that he wanted to know if Xander started asking about him. The demon in the Fish Tank even gave her the location without ever needing to be threatened. Maybe the thing just wanted her out of there before she got violent and either slayed it or outed it for what it truly was. Either way, it was putting her on edge.

The boat at the end of the pier didn't look dangerous and all of her Slayer senses were telling her that no one was waiting for them but she had been wrong before. Creeping along side of the boat, she strained her ears but the only thing she could hear were the sounds of the waves and her companions breathing behind her. Figuring it was about as safe as she was going to find it, Buffy turned to Willow and Oz. "Alright, give me two minutes while I check out the boat. If you see or hear anything out of the ordinary, get back to the van and let Giles know," Buffy told them.

"We're not leaving you," Willow said slightly shocked that she would even suggest it.

"We don't know what to expect here. If it's something that I can't handle, I don't want you guys getting hurt. I'll need as much help as I can get at that point and as helpfully as you and Oz are, we'd need more than just you two," Buffy whispered quickly. "If things go bad, I'd need you guys to go grab Giles or someone, got it?"

Willow looked as if she was going to argue some more but Oz put a hand on her shoulder, instantly quieting her fears, at least verbally. She was still concerned but knowing that Oz was there with her helped calm some of those fears.

Smiling gratefully to both of them, Buffy hopped over the side of the boat and onto the deck, landing as quietly as she could. She almost went back though when she heard Willow tell Oz that they were giving her two minutes before going after her. It was good to know that her friends had her back but it was going to get them killed one day.

No one was in sight as Buffy made her way to the cabin on the boat. She couldn't see inside the cabin, someone had put a mirror or something like that in the small round window. As quickly and silently as she could, Buffy creeped up to the door, pressed her ear to the wood and listened as hard as she could. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no sound coming from inside. No breathing, no creak of wood, nothing.

Standing, Buffy took the stake out of her coat pocket, readying herself. Stepping off to the side, she shoved the door open, hard. She had used some extra strength in case there was a lock on the door but even with some Slayer strength the door shouldn't have came completely out of the frame. Blinking in surprise, Buffy noticed the complete lack of movement inside. Something was definitely wrong.

Carefully, Buffy peeked in through the doorway and nearly fled the boat altogether. She had seen a lot of horrible, bloody, messy things in her few years as the Slayer. She had done a few of them herself to a couple of demons when a fight had gotten pretty bad. But this…this wasn't a fight. This was the work of someone who had enjoyed themselves, someone who had known what they were doing. As she looked around the room, Buffy realized that what she had initially thought was paint was actually green blood. The thick, somewhat stringy liquid was all over the place. The floor was covered in it, the walls and even the ceiling had blood on it as well as a few things that she could only guess used to be vital organs. There was a chair in the cabin, the only piece of furniture that wasn't destroyed, that had something in it. She could only guess at what it had been originally. Whatever had done this had made it impossible to identify what kind of demon it had been. She assumed that this was what was left of the demon they had been sent to see or maybe this was that creatures work. Either way, there wasn't anything for her here.

There wasn't anything she was going to find here. Everything was covered in blood and the room was a mess. It would take hours to search through everything and they didn't even know what they were looking for. Besides, she didn't think she could stomach doing that. She had never been sick over the things she had seen, but if she stayed here much longer that would change. Refusing to breath till she got away from the scene in front of her, she turned around and walked quickly back towards Willow and Oz who had just started climbing onto the boat.

"What happened? Is the demon gone?" Willow asked as Oz helped her over the edge.

"Could say that," Buffy replied trying to calm her stomach. "Someone or something got here before us. Trust me, we aren't finding anything useful here."

Oz nodded his head in understanding, taking a look past Buffy into the cabin. Moving between Willow and the open doorway, he held out his hand. "Here, let me help you down."

Smiling, Willow took the offered hand and got back onto the pier. Once she was off the boat, Oz whispered to Buffy, "Bad?"

"Yeah," she replied grimily.

Taking his time getting off the boat, he added, "Worried?"

Swallowing hard, pushing the image of the body inside the cabin out of her mind, Buffy shook her head. "We keep going. Just…be careful."

Nodding, Oz caught up with Willow and went with her back to the van. Checking behind her before she got off the boat, Buffy couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. Nothing was there, of course, and it could just be her nerves. Frowning, she hopped down and followed after her friends. _'Yeah, right,' _she thought. _'It's just my nerves.'_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Mostly, this is just a thank you, once again, for the reviews. Sorry this is so late, I meant to have it up sooner but what can you do? Constructive criticism and reviews make me work faster and help. Enjoy!**

**Aaron W: I like the Xander/Angel team-up as well. I plan on answering most of the questions by the end of the story, but not all. Where's the fun if we know everything all at once? I'm trying to keep Buffy and the gang as realistic as I can but not making them bad guys. They just aren't able to understand at this point what's happened I think.**

**Whatweareafraidof: No Eddie in this one, but there is someone else in Sunnydale at the end of this chapter.**

Chapter 7

"You're kidding me." Xander said looking out the car at their destination. "I mean, seriously, you have to be kidding me, right?"

"I'm telling you, this is the place. Look at the paper again if you don't believe me," Angel retorted.

Not bothering to double check, Xander continued staring at the place in front of them. He had seen many places that people hid in or used as protection, most of them were evil of some flavor or another and there were a few things they all had in common. Security was generally high through either magical or mechanical means. Generally there were some sort of imposing features to the place. Either it was a large intimidating building or a long, dark, creepy pathway leading to the building typically littered with landmines. If anything, the area surrounding the place should be devoid of other buildings. How else were you supposed to know that that the place was powerful? But no, this place had none of that. The closest thing it had to a sentry was the little garden gnome standing guard in the middle of a flower bed.

The address had brought them to a quant, but large, two story home not too far from Buffy's house. They had drove past it three times thinking that maybe they had the wrong place or that perhaps it was under some kind of veil but neither he or Angel could feel any magic coming off the house in front of them. Not many places that were involved in dangerous and shady dealings, demonic or otherwise, had a two car garage in the back or an honest to goodness white picket fence. It was starting to creep him out a bit actually.

Xander had debated using his gift to get a better look at the place but had quickly decided better of it. He wanted to avoid using his gift for a little bit if he could. It's not that he was getting careless with it or anything, but he was using it more and more lately and with the way this case was going he didn't want to give anything the chance to attack him while his shields were down. Besides, if the Harrowing was in town, it would be better not to draw any attention to himself. If the situation called for it, he would open up his third eye in a second but for now it was best to keep its use to a minimum.

"Any idea who owns the place?" Xander asked.

"Not a clue," Angel replied. "I just knew the address from walking Buffy home a few times. Didn't think it would be so…"

"Normal?" Xander supplied. "Yeah, it's bugging me too."

"Could be a front. Some of the best ways to hide is right out in the open."

"Could be," Xander agreed. "Or it could be a trap."

"Or maybe it's just some innocent family's home, someone who really has nothing to do with this and just got their address added to the list by accident." When neither of them said anything for a while, Angel looked to him asking, "So what do you want to do with this?"

Mulling it over in his head, Xander sighed before getting out of the car. That was all the answer Angel needed and he soon followed Xander up the walkway to the front door. Nothing tried to jump out of the well manicured lawn to bite them, which was a plus, but it was still hard to shake that uneasy feeling. With every step they took the feeling got worse and it was only by sheer professionalism that neither of them started looking around them to try and spot any signs of danger. Besides, if you start doing that it only makes you look vulnerable and weak, an easy target. The last thing that Xander or Angel wanted to look like was a target, easy or otherwise.

Standing at the front door, Xander began studying it for a moment. It looked like wood, it had the same grain as wood, but something told him that it was off some way. Nothing came to mind about what it could be, but again, something was wrong about it.

"It's metal," Angel said leaning forward. "I can smell the polish on the other side from here. The doors made out of steel."

"Well, at least someone has the right idea about Sunnydale home security," Xander remarked. "Kind of lends to the idea of trap, huh? Anything else that super nose can tell me?"

Angel gave another sniff before scrunching his nose up. "There is something else, I can't tell what though. It's too faint."

Testing the doorknob, Xander found that the door was unlocked. "So much for security. Again I say, 'trap'."

Pushing the door open all the way with his a hard shove of his toe, Xander looked inside the hallway but found nothing that wouldn't normally be there. A coat rack stood right inside the doorway and a staircase lead up to the second floor a little bit down the hall. The floor was hard wood and looked as if it had been professionally polished recently. There weren't any pictures or anything else decorating the red walls. That wasn't that unusual. Some people didn't like messing up what they thought was a clean and orderly home with things like that, though it was slightly suspicious.

Music was playing somewhere in the back of the house. It was a soft jazz number, heavy on the bass. Other than that, Xander wasn't able to make out any more of it but a quick glance at Angel let him know that he was familiar with it. It was a little odd to see the vampire tapping on the doorframe along with the song. Shaking his head, Xander stepped into the house with a scowl on his face. If anyone was watching he didn't want them to think that he was hesitant. It would show weakness which would only make things worse when they started asking questions. They would try to play them, something that would only make him and Angel annoyed and lead to more violence.

"You smell that?" Angel asked from the doorway. "Smells like…incense."

Taking a whiff of the air, Xander noticed it too. Like the music, it was faint but there. It was a sweet, heavy scent that might have made him a bit dizzy if it was any stronger. "I smell it, too. It seems a bit…"

"Cheap," Angel finished for him. Furrowing his brow, he took a tentative step forward. The threshold didn't stop him and he walked into the house. "Funny thing about places like this," Angel said loudly. "They tend not to have anything in the way of a barrier to vampires."

"That's what the three inch steel door was for. Now both of you keep your hands where I can see them," a crisp, cold voice called back.

Turning, Xander and Angel found a tall woman dressed in what might have, at one point anyway, been a very sharp business suit. The dark grey skirt been shortened to fall an inch or so above the knees with a slit along its side, showing off a strong pair of pale legs. The matching jacket was closed, but with the figure it was showing, both men doubted that there was much on underneath it. The whole get up had her looking like someone's naughty librarian dream come true. What really sold it was her dark hair done up in a tight bun and the thin framed glasses perched on her nose. All of this would normally take precedence when taking in an attractive woman. However, the only thing Xander and Angel concentrated on was the crossbow she had pointed between the two of them.

She didn't smile or show any emotion except to raise a single eyebrow. "There are ways to go about making proper appointments, which I might add, are most definitely needed in your case, vampire. There are…precautions to take."

"We aren't here to cause any trouble," Angel said carefully, hands up and in plain sight. "See? We aren't hurting anyone, we just wanted to talk. That's all."

"Obviously you aren't hurting anyone. If you had tried I'd be busy sweeping you into the dust bin."

"Like the man said," Xander said loudly. "We only want to talk."

Her eyes trained on Xander but to her credit, the crossbow never left the halfway point between the two men. "You seem to think that I care what you came here for."

Getting annoyed, Xander gave the woman a look. "Look, if we wanted to hurt you we would have by now."

"I'd love to see you try."

"Xander," Angel warned. "This won't get us anywhere. Now, why don't we all take a step back, breathe." Moving faster than Xander could follow, Angel grabbed the crossbow, turning it on the woman. "And let's calm down, alright?"

The woman looked shocked at his speed but quickly recovered. She raised her hands, palms up, slightly. "If you're here to hurt any of the girls, you'll be sorely disappointed."

"We aren't here for them," Xander said annoyed. "We told you, we want answers."

"We aren't in the business of giving answers," she told them.

"I'm sure you can make an exception. After all, we are being very friendly." Xander gave her a nasty smile, pleased to see that her cool exterior cracked a little again. He was ready to follow it up with another threat but was interrupted by the crackle of static followed by another woman's voice.

"Janice, it's alright. Send the gentleman in to see me." Another crackle of static and the voice cut out, leaving Xander and Angel confused.

The woman who confronted them, Janice apparently, walked between them and over to the far wall. It wasn't until she had stopped in front of a wood panel did Xander notice the intercom. He was glad he hadn't said his own thoughts out loud since he had originally thought it was somebody speaking either telepathically or through some other means. Too many years in the Nightside had him thinking of zebra's when he should be thinking horses.

Pressing one of the buttons, Janice said, "Of course, ma'am. I'll show them in." Turning back to Angel and Xander she said, "This way." She walked past them once again and into the other room, turning and walking out of their sight.

Xander and Angel looked at each other but remained silent. There were a lot of questions that were suddenly popping up. Why would information about Abigail bring them to a brothel? Furthermore, when the hell did Sunnydale get a brothel to begin with? Xander was also trying to figure out something that wasn't making a whole lot of sense. What were the odds that out of all the towns in the whole of the dimensions that Abigail would find herself in both the Nightside and, if this place panned out, Sunnydale? Coincidences were not a part of his life, not anymore, and this stank of them. Still, if they wanted answers to any of those questions, they would have to see where this led.

Following Janice, and trying not to notice how her hips moved, Xander went first followed by Angel who still had the crossbow. Even though Xander didn't really feel the need for a gun or anything of the sort, it made him feel a bit better that someone who was with him had a real weapon. Not that Angel needed any really. The vampire could easily have ripped the woman's throat out or done something else equally as nasty to her, not that he would though. One of Angel's greatest strength was also his biggest weakness. The vampire had the best self control that Xander had ever seen but it's what kept him from being as strong as he could be. That self control held him back and if he wasn't careful, it might end up killing him. Then again, if he lost that self control a lot of other people could end up dead.

Janice led them into a small room in the back of the house. Unlike the rest of the place which was decorated in dark reds, greens and browns with soft lighting and faux elegance, this room was the epitome of business. It wasn't very large but the way that it was set up made it seem as if it was larger than it actually was. The walls were bare white with nothing on them except for one large cross on each wall which had to have been there for security reasons. Xander doubted that anyone who ran a brothel was likely to be overly religious, not in Sunnydale anyway. There was a desk at the far end of the room with two comfortable but practical looking chairs in front of it. A woman who couldn't have been younger than fifty sat behind the desk typing away at the keys of a laptop. On a filing cabinet next to her sat a fairly large television that showed an image of the front door. Xander mentally kicked himself for missing the camera.

Janice had stopped in the middle of the room and calmly waited for the woman behind the desk to look up. Angel stood behind her never really raising the crossbow or pointing it at anyone, but it was in position to be brought up quickly should he need it. Unlike them, Xander wasn't much in the mood to wait around to be noticed.

Looking at the television, Xander opened up his gift a tiny bit, just small enough to do what he needed, and found the different camera channels. The screen switched from the camera outside to one inside one of the bedrooms. There wasn't any volume so the Madam of the House didn't realize what had happened. Janice and Angel, on the other hand, saw exactly what was playing.

"Is it just me or is anyone else surprised at how flexible the Sanitation Commissioner is?" Xander asked loudly tilting his head sideways. "Then again, I can't imagine that it's very pleasant."

The Madam's head snapped up. She glared at Xander while switching off the television. She recovered quickly from her shock, putting on what looked to be a warm smile. To Xander, it just looked fake and tired.

"You gentleman will have to forgive me, business you know," she said by way of explanation.

Xander took a moment to study her. She was middle aged with a body that spoke of comfortable living. She wasn't over weight but she had a plump build that stuck out in a place like this. Her blouse was black with a dark colored silk scarf hung around her neck. Her hair was dyed red but unlike some woman, it didn't make her look sultry just old. He resisted the urge to tell her this since it would probably lead to more problems.

"Well, let's not waste any time then," Xander said not bothering with false pretenses.

The Madam chuckled lightly. "Right to the point, hmm? Men do have such little patience for foreplay. Now, what can I do for you? I'm sure that we can arrange…something to fit both of your needs."

"Cute, but we're looking for answers."

"Ah, yes, answers. The one thing I'm afraid I can't give you."

"You don't even know what the question is," Angel said. "It always makes me a little suspicious when someone says they can't help you when they don't know what the question is."

"It doesn't matter what the question is, I'm not in the business of giving answers," she said turning to Angel. "My clientele expects a certain level of anonymity."

"I'm sure the video cameras in the rooms help with that," Xander replied. "Besides, we don't care about who uses this place."

Leaning back, the Madam's smile never wavered. "My girls expect the same thing. I'm sure you can understand. There are so many…dangerous characters out there, no telling who might be looking for them."

"Dangerous characters, huh?" Xander didn't bother with threats not that he couldn't have thought of a few colorful ones. The woman sitting in front of him was probably used to men bearing down on her demanding any number of things. It wouldn't work on her, she had risen above it. Same would be true for hitting her since Xander doubted that the woman had never been hit in her life. You don't become the head of a brothel without moving up from the ground floor.

Slowly, Xander started moving around. "I can see you're a hard woman to negotiate with. Probably have some pretty powerful people backing you, people you think protect you, keep you out of harms reach. I have to wonder though. Does that same protection extend to your employees?"

Xander saw the calm and cocky attitude of the Madam melt away. Xander met her gaze, unwaveringly, letting the woman's own mind fill in the blanks. People's imaginations were always better at coming up with worse things than anything they were told. The only time Xander looked away was to give an obvious sideways glance to Janice who had become rigid. He wasn't sure if it was the thought of being hurt or of hurting any of the women who worked here and frankly he didn't care as long as it worked.

Xander sensed Angel tensing behind him. He was used to violence being a vampire but he still seemed surprised when Xander would use it as a means to an end. Fighting demons or when defending himself, Angel didn't blink an eye at the things Xander would do. But the cold demeanor and simple statements that Xander used when threatening people didn't sit well with Angel. It wasn't that he was any stranger to it. He had done worse in his time than simply talk. It hit too close to home for comfort for the vampire. It reminded him of what his kind could and would do given the opportunity, the same desires he struggled with at times. It also didn't help that Angel never knew if Xander was bluffing or not but to be fair, neither did Xander.

Something in his voice or in his look must have passed along how serious he was, or how serious he might be. It was one thing to threaten her, that she could have dealt with. But threaten the people she was bound to be protective of, and that changed things.

Clearing her throat, the Madam sat forward, her smile gone. "What exactly do you want Mr…?"

"Harris," Xander told her and was a little surprised when her eyes went wide.

"Harris? Xander Harris?" she asked. Her voice shook a bit but she did her best to hide it. "So, what can I do for you and your friend, Mr. Harris?"

Xander smiled what he hoped was a polite way. "We're looking for a girl. We were told that she was here." It was a lie but there was no reason to tell her that.

The Madam looked as if she wanted to argue with Xander again but stopped herself. "The girls that work here have done so for a long time. There's been no one new here for quite awhile."

"She went by Abigail," Xander said ignoring her. "Brown hair, curly, British. Sound familiar?"

Thinking for a moment, the Madam said, "Abigail? Are you sure that's what her name is? She told us her name was Lora."

"Lora?" Janice asked.

"Yes, Janice. Lora knew the rules when she came here. She knows that everyone's safety is priority." The Madam slumped a bit in her chair. "I won't allow you to hurt her. Talk to her, but that's all, is that understood?"

Xander nodded his head. "I'm looking for answers. I'm not looking to take anyone anywhere they don't want to go. I'm not some errand boy, lady."

Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, she jotted down a quick note, folded it, and held it out to Janice. "Give this to Lora, dear." Seeing Xander's suspicious look, she added, "Just something to let her know what's going on. Lora had no appointments till later on this evening you see. I don't want her to get the wrong idea about what's happening."

Xander and Angel started for the door, following Janice out of the office when the Madam stopped them. "Not you, vampire. I know the kind of man Harris is, but I don't care for your kind here. Without proper precautions, there is no way you're being invited into any of their rooms."

"I don't need an invitation," Angel told her. "Place like this, I can come in anytime I want. Day, night, whenever I like."

Standing up, the Madam leveled Angel with a hard look. "That may be so for the building, but the girls pay room and board here. Their rooms are their living spaces, giving them a small, but convenient, threshold."

Angel flashed the woman a smile that reached his eyes. There was no joy in it, but Xander was fairly certain he say the glimmer of excitement in the other man's eyes. It was a smile that reminded everyone in the room that while Angel may look normal, he wasn't. He was a predator, a monster in human skin. The grin sent a chill down both Janice's and the Madam's spines but both stood their ground. Xander frowned slightly, but wasn't fazed by it, only worried.

Was Xander becoming a bad influence on Angel? The man kept the demon inside of him on a tight leash twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But the chain on that leash wasn't all that strong sometimes and Xander sometimes worried that delving into the darker aspects of this town sometimes weakened it a little. But, what worried Xander even more was the fact that he recognized that smile. He'd seen it on John sometimes and, more recently, on himself.

"Angel, it's fine," Xander told him. "Stay down here. Watch in case she tries anything. I'm sure she'll love the company."

Hearing Xander speak snapped Angel out of it. He didn't respond, but his face became slack, his eyes shifting back and force. Angel nodded in acknowledgement and Xander returned it. He was glad to see the Madam was a little paler as she realized she was now alone with the vampire without her bodyguard, not that the woman could offer much resistance if Angel wanted to hurt anyone. Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is for a plan to come together.

Janice hesitated for a moment as if waiting for some signal to stay or go ahead. If there was one, Xander didn't see it but Janice started forward again, leading him through the rooms and up the staircase. He didn't bother with idle conversation. Janice wasn't just hired help or one of the workers here. She protected the people here, or at least tried to and with places such as this, that meant something. Like the Madam, she couldn't be bullied or tricked into giving up information and unlike the Madam, threatening the women here had only served to anger Janice even while she was frightened. Besides, he needed the time to think, not to try and work the girl over.

If this Lora person really was Abigail, which he was having serious doubts about, then he had to figure out what he was going to do about it. He meant it when he said he wouldn't take her against her will. He would talk to her, find out what had happened, if she was OK and give her some options. If she decided to see Giles then he would help with that. But if for whatever reason she didn't feel like it then he would leave and let Giles know that she was safe and alive. The older man wouldn't like it but he didn't give a damn. Of course, that all was assuming that Lora was actually Abigail. Again, there were too many things that weren't adding up but for the moment he didn't have much choice except to go with it and see where it led.

Janice led him to a room towards the back of the second floor. The rest of the rooms were closed off and the only sounds being made was from their feet walking on the hard wood floor. He guessed that the rooms had either really good sound proofing built in or some kind of spell that did the same thing. It was kind of needed, he imagined. After all, who wanted someone else's screams of pain or joy to overshadow their own?

Stopping, Janice pressed a button on an intercom next to the door. "Lora, its Janice. You have a…visitor."

A crackle of static and then a soft, tired voice came through. "I thought I was clear for the evening?"

"You are," Janice told her holding down on the button. "This isn't that kind of visitor. He says he knows you from before."

There was silence for a moment before the intercom crackled again. "Are you sure?"

"He's very…adamant about it," Janice told her, adding, "I have this for you." Taking the note, she slipped it through the crack under the door. That meant that it was definitely some kind of sound proof charm then.

It took a few more moments of silence before they heard anything else but finally the door unlocked and opened half an inch. When nothing else happened, Xander looked expectantly at Janice.

"Hurt her, and you won't leave here alive no matter who you are," she told him before turning and walking back down the hall.

Shaking his head at her amateurish posturing, Xander couldn't help but smile. She was probably good at keeping out the usual riff raff that tried to come in here and start trouble, but she wasn't anywhere capable of taking on anyone who meant business.

Pushing the door open, Xander didn't step inside till he could get a good look of what he'd be walking into. The room was average size with most of the space being taken up by a queen size bed. A brown leather chair sat in the corner of the room but other than that there didn't seem to be any other furnishings. The décor was like the rest of the house, all dark colors and stained moldings. The lighting was about the same if not slightly dimmer, casting shadows all over the room.

Standing next to the chair was a young woman wearing a long, simple white dress. It was hard to see her face clearly from the way the shadows were falling, but she looked as if she could be young enough to fit the bill. Her hair fell in soft curls around her face which only helped obscure her features. Without any picture to work off of, Xander was using Giles description and a rough estimate of how she would look after all these years to figure out if this was Abigail or not. He had a few key questions and test that he would use to check but physically, it was only his best guess.

Stepping inside, Xander gave the woman, Lora, another look then quickly glanced around. Other than a nightstand with a few picture frames on it and a brush, there wasn't anything of interest in the room.

"I don't know you," Lora said quietly.

Xander noticed the slight cultured British accent in her voice, Northern London from the sound of it, something that helped to add to the circumstantial evidence.

"No," Xander replied softly. "But I know someone who might know you. That all depends though."

"Depends on what?" Lora shifted slightly, moving a little further back.

"On if you are who I think you are." Xander walked further into the room but made sure to keep his distance. No need to frighten her or to put himself within arm's reach in case she attacked him. "See, the girl I'm looking for hasn't been seen for a while and there's very little evidence saying you're her."

"So why do you think it's me then? It could be anyone. What's so special about me?"

Smiling, Xander said, "Well, that remains to be seen. Can you tell me where you were born, where you lived before coming to work here?"

"Shut the door," she told him. When he gave her a look she added, "You want me to tell you about myself, something that I don't share with just anybody Mr…?"

"Harris."

"So, if you want me to answer any questions, Mr. Harris, I'd prefer it if I don't share those answers with the rest of the house."

Weighing his options, Xander took the calculated risk of being in a sound proof room with the young woman or not getting any answers. Without turning around, he shut the door and felt the silencing charm spring up instantly, the room becoming deathly silent. "OK, now start talking. Your boss already gave the OK to talk to you so let's not make this any harder than it has to be."

Stepping out of the shadows just enough to see her, Lora smiled. "And what exactly do you want to know, hmm?"

"Like I said," Xander replied slightly annoyed. "Where were you before you started working here?"

Tracing her fingers along the back of the chair, she replied, "Oh, I've been around, traveled a bit here and there. Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm looking for a girl and that's not an answer."

"And neither is that. Most men are looking for a girl. A lot of them find me."

He was starting to get even more annoyed with her but refused to let it show. The moment she saw that she was getting to him, he wouldn't have anything to work with. "I'm looking for a specific girl, went missing some years back. Happen to ring any bells?"

Shaking her head, Lora said, "Lot's of girls go missing. Was she important to this person, the one who asked you to find her?"

"You could say that," Xander said carefully not wanting to give anything away. Ignoring her for a moment, he started moving around the room towards the nightstand to make it look as if he wasn't too concerned. "But something tells me you're not going to be very forth coming with information, are you?"

"I never said you wouldn't have to work for it," she said with a grin. "The question is how much is it worth to you?"

"You're looking for money?" Xander asked.

"I don't recall saying anything about money."

"What do you want then?" Xander eyed her suspiciously for a moment, his subconscious working out something that the rest of his brain hadn't figured out yet.

Walking towards him, Lora continued smiling. "Well, what are you offering?"

"The chance to be reunited with someone who wants to see you again," Xander told her plainly.

"Provided I am this girl you're looking for," she said.

Stepping back, Xander kept his eyes on Lora, watching her as she moved forward. His brain was screaming at him that something wasn't right but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. The way she moved and talked said that she was putting on the heavy come hither but there was something else, something he felt at the edge of his senses told him there was more. If his instincts told him to be wary then he was listening to them. They had kept him from being killed a countless number of times which went for double after having them honed along with John's.

Taking a defensive posture, Xander leveled a hard glare at the woman which did a good job of stopping her in her tracks. "What are you playing at?"

"You came to me, remember? Why would I possibly play at anything?"

"Maybe because you don't want your brother Jonathan to find you? Maybe because you're afraid of what might happen when he does?"

Lora frowned, looking away. "Jonathan always was one to not let things go. What lie did he tell you this time?"

Keeping his face blank, Xander replied, "Oh, the story doesn't matter. I'm sure you've heard them all."

"He'll say anything to find me. I thought I could hide out here, be protected. I should have known he would have found me sooner or later." Lora shivered a little, wrapping her arms around herself. "You're going to make me go back there, aren't you?"

"Well, that all depends." Xander reached into his coat pocket trying to find something. It didn't take long and he made sure to hold it firmly in his hand. "Who the hell is Jonathan?"

Lora dropped her arms, her shoulders slumping slightly. "Damn it," she muttered. "I fell for the name."

"To be fair most people couldn't have kept up the accent as long as you have."

"Oh, the accent's real, dear. I never was able to shake it, not even after all the years I've been here." Lora turned around, her face no longer human and instead the demonic visage of a vampire. "You'd think eighty-three years across the pond would be enough, don't you?"

"It suits you." Xander did his best not to show his worry. He expected something, but not this, though that probably meant he was just getting sloppy, something that would have to change.

"To be fair, you probably wouldn't have been able to tell anyway. I can do a pretty wicked Texan," she said, changing her voice at the end to a perfect southern twang.

"It's good," he admitted nodding his head.

Without preamble, Xander flung his fist out. He had been hoping to get close enough to Lora's face but he hadn't been expecting the vampires speed. He had barely made his move before she grabbed his wrist, twisted, and started squeezing.

"Thanks for noticing," she said smiling, her fangs gleaming. Squeezing harder, Lora forced his hand open, spilling the fine black powder on the floor. Sniffing slightly, she laughed a little. "Pepper? You were attacking me with _pepper_?"

"You'd be amazed at what you can do with a few well used condiments," Xander said through the pain.

Grabbing his other shoulder, Lora threw him across the room and into the wall. "How's that working out for you?"

Pulling himself to his feet, Xander grinned despite the pain. "Usual goes a bit better but then again I haven't really been at the top of my game lately."

Stalking towards him, Lora shook her head. "Your cute, I'll give you that. Too bad about having to kill you, though, I might have given you a freebee. But, rules are rules."

"Yeah, too bad."

This time Xander was ready for her speed. It didn't make him move any faster or react any quicker, but it helped him time his attacks better. He only connected with her a handful of times though and if it wasn't for the fact that she was toying with him, he would have been dead. But he was expecting her to play with him for a bit, to drag it out as long as she could. After all, she was a vampire who seemed to have a cushy gig here. It probably meant that she didn't get a whole lot of chances to let her inner demon out in which case he'd bet that she was itching for something like this.

One more time, Xander got thrown across the room. This time he was fortunate enough to hit the bed, bounce off and crash into the nightstand. Staring up at the ceiling he tried to get up but the room was spinning just a bit too much for him at the moment to do anything of the sort. He heard Lora chuckling as she came around the bed. He would have rolled his eyes at the dramatics but that would have just made his head spin more. One thing that was universal, no matter where you happened to be, was that people who thought they had the situation well under control couldn't help but gloat when they had you down. The evil laugh was just one way of doing that.

Reaching behind him, Xander was happy that he had been thrown into the nightstand. His weight had broken a leg off making it a perfect stake. Gripping it in his left hand, he had enough time to bring it up before Lora was on him again. He lunged as fast as he could but the vampire was still quicker than him, grabbing the other end of the stake before it could pierce her chest. He struggled for a bit, pushing harder but even with both hands he doubted he would have been able to get it to into her, let alone using only the one.

"My, you are the clever one, aren't you," Lora said playfully.

"You've got no idea," Xander said with a smile. His free lashed out, striking Lora right between the eyes. Even though she howled in pain, Xander didn't let up. He followed up with two more punches, one to the nose and the other to her check, knocking her off of him. Unfortunately the stake went with her.

Lora was still conscious, but she was too busy clutching her smoking face and whimpering in pain to get up at the moment allowing Xander a moment to breath. He would have like to lay there for a bit, get his bearings or maybe just close his eyes but he didn't have that luxury. Suppressing a groan, Xander lifted himself up to his feet. The weight of the twice blessed brass knuckles he had slipped on his right hand felt good, though hitting Lora with them hurt his fist more than he would have liked. Still, she was hurt more so that helped him better about it. Seeing Lora try to stand up out of the corner of his eye, Xander went over and slammed his fist in the back of her skull dropping her soundly to the floor.

Hands on his knees, Xander tried to catch his breath. The whole fight had taken a few minutes but those minutes can feel like an eternity. His back was killing him and his hand was throbbing. All in all it wasn't that bad, but he'd still have preferred it if he had gotten through this without having to get banged up. It was a lot to ask for, he knew, but that didn't mean he couldn't hope. Before he righted himself, the light played across the broken glass from the picture frames on the floor, catching his eye. Before he even realized what he was doing, he had picked it up one of the broken frames.

It was picture of a group of five women, one of them being Lora. They were all standing in the front of the house, smiling seductively at the camera. Three of the other women he didn't recognize from a hole in the wall. They were all pretty enough, sure, and not at all human. The fifth girl, however, was very recognizable. He had tried finding her for some time now, but without anything to go on and not knowing who to ask, he hadn't been able to come up with any information on her. Now she was standing in frame, smiling at him. She didn't look any younger than when he had seen her in Ethan's shop that day holding a bundle of costumes. Even after all of the years he had been inside of John's head, he always remembered her face.

Getting up, Xander stormed over to Lora's prone form. "Get up," he snarled. "Get up!" He kicked her hard in the stomach eliciting a groan from the vampire. Grabbing her hair, Xander lifted her head up. Her face was marred with blisters from where he had hit her with the brass knuckles, but they were already healing. "Who's the girl? The Asian one in this picture, who is she?"

"Who?" Lora asked groggily.

"The girl in the picture," he snarled. "Who the hell is she? How do you know her?"

Lora's face had reverted back to its human form and when she cringed away from him, she seemed innocent, fearful. Xander didn't care though, he knew real innocence and she hadn't had anything like that in decades. She cried out in pain as Xander pulled her to her feet by her hair, but he didn't pay it any attention.

Pressing the brass knuckles against the exposed top of her chest, Xander asked, "Tell me what I want to know, and the pain stops. Don't, and I start getting creative with where I put this thing next."

She didn't scream like he had expected, but sucked in air through gritted teeth to ease some of the pain. "You're dead," she told him. "Even if you kill me, there's no way you're making it out of here alive. Madam said the Mayor wanted you dead, it doesn't matter what you do now."

"Good, then it won't matter what you tell me." Xander pressed down harder with the blessed weapon, grinning wickedly as the smoke rose up from her burning skin. "The Mayor can wait. Who's the girl?"

Mouth open wide in a soundless scream, Lora glanced at the photo. "Tiffani! The girl…the girl's name is Tiffani!"

"Where is she?"

"Fuck!" Lora writhed in pain. "Not here! She left months ago. None of us have had any contact with her. Once you leave, you're gone for good. That's how it goes!"

"What is she?" Xander asked angrily. "Vampire? Demon? Something else?"

"Human!" Lora cried out. "She was as vanilla as you can get."

Letting up on the pressure, Xander pushed Lora back onto the bed. She collapsed in a heap, taking in big shuddering breathes to ease the pain. He wasn't going to be getting anything else from her. He had been involved with enough interrogations to know when someone was telling the truth under duress and when they were just telling you what you wanted to hear. Lora was telling him the truth which meant that he now had a name to the girl that had caused all of this. But why here? It couldn't have happened by chance, could it? Again, the questions where pilling up with no answers in sight.

Taking the photo, Xander slipped it into his coat pocket and tossed the frame onto the floor. Leaving Lora to whimper uselessly, Xander left the room and was greeted by…nothing. He had been expecting some kind of noise but there was nothing but silence. The room itself had been quiet, made to be so by some sort spell or another, but this kind of silence was different, it was heavier. He kept his senses on high alert as he made his way down the hall and down the stairs. Nothing jumped out at him, which would normally be good, but his time it only served to make him even more wary.

Nothing accosted him when he walked into the Madam's office and there was a good reason for that. The Madam was dead, slumped forward in her chair with her neck twisted in an unnatural angle. Angel stood with his back to the doorway, breathing heavy and holding Janice off the floor and against the wall, one hand around her throat. She was still alive judging by the color her face was turning and the lame attempts to pry him off of her. Being very careful not to make any sudden moves, Xander stood in the doorway and assessed the situation.

"Angel," Xander said calmly. "We need to leave. It wasn't her."

"I know," Angel growled.

Xanders gaze fell on the dead body of the Madam before he said, "I can see. Something I need to know?"

Slamming Janice into the wall, Angel let her drop to the floor where she started coughing, taking in as much air as she could. "She let it slip after you two left. After that we had…words. She'd been in contact with the Mayor since we got here."

"I know. Turned out Lora was a vampire ready to drain me. I'm guessing the note was instructions on what to do with me. She told me about the Mayor, though. I think I'm going to have to show my displeasure with his Honor, soon and violently."

Angel hadn't turned away from Janice. He stood over her, shaking from keeping himself under control. When he spoke, it was as if he hadn't heard anything that Xander had told him. "She came back," he said referring to Janice, "Starting attacking me right away."

"That's nice. Maybe we can talk about it after we get the hell out of here. Lora isn't going to stay down for long and if any of the other girls in this place are like her, we're going to start having problems."

Angel snapped out of it and looked back at Xander as if noticing him for the first time. "Right, let's go," he said. He gave Janice and the dead body of the Madam one more look and left the room, walking past Xander and towards the front door.

Xander looked around as well. His worries about Angel looked as if they might be justified. It wasn't that he was particularly upset over the Madam being dead. She had tried to kill him after all. Janice was hardly an innocent in all of this either, but she didn't deserve to die and if Xander hadn't came in when he did, he didn't want to think about what might have happened to her. But if Janice had come in and started to attack Angel, where was her weapon? There wasn't a stake on the ground or any other conventional weapon either. Not to mention, why did Angel snap the Madam's neck? There wasn't a struggle on her part. Hell, she hadn't even left her chair.

Frowning, Xander turned and followed Angel out of the house. The vampire was sitting in the driver seat of his car with his eyes staring off into the distance when Xander made it outside. His face was pensive, as if he had a heavy weight on his mind. Considering what had happened inside, it wasn't any surprise. Xander didn't say anything as he got into the passenger seat. He would have been content to let the silence go on but Angel wasn't going anywhere.

"When I said we needed to leave, I meant the area, not just the house. Last time I checked, vampires can still walk outside," Xander said easily.

Wordlessly, Angel started up the car and pulled out into the street. They didn't have any specific direction at the moment, but they needed to put distance between themselves and the brothel. After several minutes and a few random turns, Xander figured they needed a place to work out their next move. Xander told Angel of this and only got a short nod in return. When it was obvious that he wasn't going to be getting help on Angel's part, Xander picked the one place he felt they might be able to relax for a moment, Willie's Place. Angel didn't even bother responding this time but turned towards Willie's at the next intersection.

They pulled up to Willie's a short time later. Xander was wrapped up in his own head trying to work out the million and one questions and problems that were piling up that he didn't notice Angel had stopped till he felt his hand on his shoulder. Shooting him a questioning look, Xander stopped from asking him anything once he saw the look on Angel's face.

When Angel spoke, it was barely above a whisper. "You smell that?"

"Smell what?"

Taking a few more sniffs of the air, Angel furrowed his brow. "Cordite…and blood."

'_Damn it,'_ Xander thought. _'This night just keeps getting better and better.'_

Walking up to the bar's door, Xander and Angel tried to make out any sounds but when they reached the door, all they heard was movement, the scraping of chairs on floors and a few cries of pain. Without any way to see inside, there was no way to know what was going on.

Xander was tired, hurting and wanted nothing to do with what was going on inside. But, whatever was happening he sure as hell knew that Willie was in the middle of it. Even if Willie wasn't responsible, it was his bar which meant that he'd probably end up being dragged into it and despite what some people may believe, he was a decent man in his own right. More than that, Willie had become a friend of his. He had looked out for him and stuck his neck out for him when he had no reason to. In Xander's mind, that was all the reason he needed to go in there. Nodding once to Angel, Xander pulled the door open and walked in like he owned the place.

Three things happened. One, Xander stopped short causing Angel to knock into him. Second, all eyes in the bar turned to him, which gave him a perfect audience. Because lastly, every coherent thought in his head disappeared and he barely even registered that he was speaking until it was too late. "Oh Christ, it's her. _Run._"


End file.
